The Hindu Business Line : Agreement on Smart City `within a week'

Penalty for failures
New clauses perceived as being advantageous to the State have been added to the revised agreement. DIC is contractually bound to ensure that at least 33,000 jobs are created.

Thiruvananthapuram , March 1

The final agreement for the proposed Rs 1,500-crore Smart City project in Kochi, which the State Government is promoting in partnership with the Dubai Internet City (DIC), will be signed "within a week's time."

Announcing this, the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, told newspersons here that the DIC business plan commits itself to building 60 lakh sq feet of workspace for IT and IT Enabled Services. At least 60,000 jobs would also have been created over a period of the next 10 years. In any case, DIC is contractually bound to ensure that at least 33,000 jobs are created during this timeframe in return for 100 acres of land being provided free of cost by the State Government. If it failed to meet the target, a penalty clause providing for a fine of Rs 6,000 for each job not created, would be invoked.

New clauses perceived as being advantageous to the State have since been added to the revised agreement. As per these, in case the DIC fails to create at least 20,000 employment opportunities and two million sq ft of built-up area over a period of next 10 years, the State Government would have the powers to take over the entire project.

The Chief Minister said that the Smart City would be progressively developed into a Special Economic Zone. The requisite memorandum of understanding was signed between the State Government and the DIC on September 9 last year.

In another major decision, the State Government decided to refer the SNC Lavalin case involving a Canadian company of the same name and the Kerala Sate Electricity Board (KSEB) to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Irregularities have been alleged in the structuring of the agreement signed for renovation of three hydroelectric projects in the State in 1997, leading to financial loss.

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