Kerala went a concrete step ahead in IT Sector of India by launching the first Project of most awaited Smart City in Kochi.
On Saturday, Chief Minister Oman Chandy  inaugurated a state-of-the-art 10,000 sq ft sales pavilion within its premises besides laying the foundation stone of the first phase of a 3.5 million square feet building.
Smart City, a Knowledge based industrial township, is  a Rs.  5000 crore Venture and  is expected to provide employment to 90,000 IT Professionals. On completion, SmartCity Kochi would be one of the largest IT parks of India.
The whole project is developed by Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd which  is a joint venture company formed to develop the Kochi Smart City project. Government of Kerala (16% share), TECOM Investments (84% share), a subsidiary of Dubai Holding are the main investors of the company.
Ministry of Commerce have granted a single SEZ status for entire 246 acres of land on Dec 2011. There were few issues in getting a single SEZ status as the land is separated by a waterbody. Approval for the project as a single SEZ was important to avail the benefits of a multi-purpose SEZ.
“This pavilion is late by three months… They have assured us that first phase of the 3.5 million square feet building would be ready in 18 months,” said Chandy.
In 2004, Chandy had first announced this IT project, which is expected to provide jobs to 90,000 professionals. It was allegedly stuck after the previous Left government re-wrote the major agreements that was initially planned.
Abdul Lateef Al-Mullah, the Group CEO who represents the Dubai company said: “We have been receiving a lot of enquiries and partners that are interested to invest in the state of Kerala. These enquiries are not just locally or nationally but globally. Kerala is on every company’s map right now and such companies will play a very important role in the economy of Kerala.”