The Hindu Business Line : Centre nod for IT special economic zone in Coimbatore

At a glance
The project will come up on an area of 11.76 hectares, near the Coimbatore Medical College on Avanashi road.
The State Government's share would be the land, which has already been transferred to Elcot.
There would be no cap on the maximum area that would be allotted to an individual applicant.

Coimbatore , June 22

The Union Government has approved the proposal for a sector-specific special economic zone (SEZ) for IT/ITES industries in Coimbatore.

The project, to come up on an area of 11.76 hectares, near the Coimbatore Medical College on Avanashi road on way to the Coimbatore airport would be developed by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (Elcot).

Speaking to presspersons in Coimbatore on Thursday after holding discussions with the District Collector, Dr Neeraj Mittal, and a CII delegation, Mr C. Umashankar, Managing Director, Elcot, Chennai, said the order conveying SEZ status for the project from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was received only yesterday and discussions at Coimbatore and Chennai were held today to give a push to the project.

In Chennai, the IT Secretary held a meeting with the Chief Secretary Mr L.K. Tripathy, on the methodology of implementing the project.

He said the Tamil Nadu Government wanted to restrict its role in the project to making the land for the project available and did not want any major share in the venture. The State Government's share would be the land, which has already been transferred to Elcot. As a matter of policy, Elcot did not take more than 29 per cent stake in a project but in the case of the Coimbatore IT project, Elcot wanted to restrict its share to 11 per cent and allow the industry to take the majority stake. However, if the Government wanted Elcot to invest more, it would go by the Government's directive, as Elcot was a Government company, he said.

Mr Umashankar said Elcot was looking for partners who could bring good design, investments and make the project a reality. He said with the available land, construction up to 5 million sq ft could be taken up at the IT park here. The type of construction such as the number of towers/floors would depend on customers' needs and would be flexible.

There would be no cap on the maximum area that would be allotted to an individual applicant. Basically, Elcot was looking for IT partners and if companies came out with their own designs, Elcot was ready to have a look at them, he said.

On whether any expression of interest (EoI) has been received by Elcot, he said clearance for the SEZ has just been received. Software leader, Wipro had already asked for 12 acres of land but a decision on whether to give land or identify a location where they could construct their own building was yet to be taken.

On who would implement the project, the Elcot MD said the issue was being discussed by the IT Secretary and the State Chief Secretary. The Government has permitted the floating of a special purpose vehicle called `Elcot IT Parks Ltd' but the issue was still under consideration, he said.

Asked about the problem of access to the IT park from the Avanashi road, Dr Neeraj Mittal, Coimbatore District Collector, said about 4.3 acres has been sought to build a 125-ft wide from the main road to the project site. He said the problem relating to the narrow railway over bridge close the IT park site was being reviewed and hoped that the widening of the RoB would be completed when the IT park was ready.

Mr Umashankar said a project of the size of Coimbatore IT park could take anywhere between 24-30 months for completion, if Elcot took up the work. But if it was entrusted with the private sector it could be completed within 18-24 months due to lesser procedural formalities. He said the administration wanted to adopt a fast-track approach in taking up the project.

The Elcot MD said the Chief Minister was keen on speedy implementation of the project. The Government was very serious (about the IT park project) and `we are all running, we have been asked to show returns.'

Among those from the CII who took part in the discussion on the IT park were Mr Jayakumar Ramdass, Chairman, CII Coimbatore Zone, Mr C.R. Swaminathan , former President and Ms Nandini Rangaswamy, former Chairperson, of CII Coimbatore Zone.

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