The Hindu Business Line : Muthoot Pappachan group joins race for Smart City

Thiruvananthapuram March 15 After the Hong Kong-based JB Group, it is now the turn of Muthoot Pappachan group to express interest in developing the proposed Smart City in Kochi, which was originally mooted by Dubai Internet City.

PROPOSAL SUBMITTED

The two have entered the race at a time when the negotiations between the Kerala Government and Dubai Internet City are at a crucial stage.

The Muthoot Pappachan group has formally submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, which seeks 200 acres of land for establishing the IT city on a long-term lease of 99 years. The group has also offered Rs 90,000 for each cent as one-time lease rental for the land.

Mr Thomas George Muthoot, Director of the group, said here on Thursday that the total outlay for the project was envisaged at Rs 2,500 crore. The State Government will be given equity holding of 26 per cent and another 23 per cent will be offered to non-resident Keralites.

The city will have a total built-up area of 20 million square feet, comprising 14 million sq.ft. processing and six million sq.ft. non-processing areas. The latter will feature a star hotel, residential apartments, shopping mall and recreation and sports facilities.

ROADMAP

Mr Thomas said that the financial closure could be achieved within three months of signing the memorandum of understanding. The first phase of the project will become operational within 24 months from the date of signing the MoU.

The project is expected to generate direct employment of about 80,000 and indirect employment of three lakh in three years' time.

The group has recently commissioned "Technopolis," a state-of-the-art IT facility, at Cochin Special Economic Zone. The facility, measuring 3.55 lakh sq.ft., is home to companies like Cognizant, Sutherland, Wipro and Williams Lea.

This apart, the group is into financial services, hospitality and automobile dealerships.

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