MindTree committed to kick off project soon.
With almost all the IT projects proposed to be set up in the city making no significant headway at the ground level, the state IT department has reaffirmed its commitment to put these projects on the fast track.
The state IT department will soon review the status of these projects.
“Many of the IT projects have been slow in their progress and among them only MindTree Consulting has committed to start work on its campus soon. We would review the status of these projects”, said Ashok Meena, the state IT secretary.
Asked on the status of DLF's Infopark project, he replied, “DLF had submitted a revised land use plan, seeking a greater area for commercial development. The final decision in this regard has to be taken by the state government.”
Real estate major DLF which had announced an investment of Rs 1000 crore on its Infopark project was awaiting the government nod on its revised land use plan. In the revised proposal, DLF has earmarked a greater area for non-processing facilities like shopping malls and multiplexes.
The Infopark project is coming up on 54 acres of land allotted to DLF by the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) in the Infocity region of the city.
DLF Infopark was to be developed in three phases. It is to comprise an IT block, a luxury hotel, a retail chain, service apartments and recreational facilities, with a total built-up space of about 5.5 million sq ft. For the luxury hotel, DLF has tied up with Hilton, an international hotel chain.
On the other hand, MindTree was to invest Rs 200 crore on its development centre proposed over 30 acres in the Infocity and it had a long-term manpower requirement of nearly 5,000 professionals. The company's construction work, which was initially scheduled to start in September 2008, has been delayed due to economic slow down.
Genpact Limited, the BPO (business process outsourcing) arm of the US-based General Electric, has put up the boundary wall for its Global Delivery Centre but is yet to resume construction work on its project. Genpact's centre in the city will have a total built-up area of 7 lakh sq ft. Initially, Genpact would hire 500 people for running its operations and eventually, the headcount will be scaled up to 3,000.
Meanwhile, ICICI Bank, which had announced to set up its eastern regional hub in the city in May 2007, has submitted a fresh building plan to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). Its revised building plan is pending for approval.
With a built-up area of 1.5 million sq ft, the eastern regional hub of ICICI bank will have a pool of 15,000 employees in the long-run. The project is to be developed in phases over a period of six to seven years at an estimated investment of Rs 600 crore.
