The Hindu Business Line : Kerala: 'Smart City' proposals raise many a question

`Vested interests are involved and the promoters have given a wish list. The wish list asks for a host of exemptions from existing laws and other mandatory requirements.'

Kochi , July 3

WHILE the State Government seems to be firm in its decision to go ahead with the proposed Smart City project here, experts and leaders of Opposition parties have raised several questions on the project to be implemented by the UAE-based Dubai Internet City (DIC).

"We don't question the bona fides of the DIC. But we cannot accept their demand aimed at creating a monopoly with respect to info parks in the State," Dr Thomas Issac, CPI(M) leader and MLA, told Business Line.

According to him, the DIC should develop its own infopark and the government should not hand over the existing Info Park at Kochi, he said. "Vested interests are involved and hence the promoters have given a wish list," he alleged.

Meanwhile, Dr M.P. Sukumaran Nair, a technocrat and former MD of Travancore Cochin Chemicals, said that there was no project report available on the project.

Usually, "such reports are prepared well in advance by knowledgeable consultants and a lot of evaluations done before proclaiming them in public," he said.

He said that the Tamil Nadu Government had recently undertaken a major project of this kind, International Information Technology Park, Chennai (ITPC), a joint venture company of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and Ascendas, a Singapore based IT and Real Estate Developer.

The Joint Venture intends to develop 15 lakhs sq ft of built up area to serve as world class business infrastructure within Chennai's IT corridor. The initial phase of the project is to build 5.25 lakh sq ft of Grade A space out of 12 acres of built up area in 40 acres of developed land.

"If we apply this scale to the DIC project, it is found that the projected requirement of land of 300 acres is exorbitant," Dr Nair said. "Here lies the real estate angle of the whole scheme apart from its intended IT development and employment perspectives."

The Government at the start itself held that the Smart City project would be a major investment involving foreign direct investments (FDI) in the field. But, details of the project are not available, Dr Nair said. It is understood from the Chief Minister's conferences and as reported in the media that it is a project of the Dubai Internet City, a private IT real estate business group based in Dubai. The project has a total investment of Rs 1,500 crore and is expected to yield 33,300 jobs.

In fact, the basis of the estimates of capital expenditure and employment potential could only be known from the business proposals under consideration. The project will be located in Kochi in a 298.27-acre complex, which also include the 3.2 lakh sq feet built-up space belonging to the Info Park here that was built in 2002 with a total investment of Rs 50 crore.

The Government has undertaken to hand over to DIC 100 acres of Government land and 62.27 acres of land belonging to the Info Park. In turn, the Government will have 9 per cent shareholding in the project and the acquired land of 136 acres will be sold to DIC at Rs 26,470 a cent, the total cost being Rs 36 crore.

It is to be noted that a stake below 10 per cent of the shareholding will deprive the government of a directorship in its Board to actively associate with its working, he said.

Other leaders who participated in the discussions said that they were not against setting up any developmental project but "we are against surrendering the rights to set up IT initiatives in the state to the DIC."

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