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Freehold land issue holds up Smart City project in Kochi

Talks between Dubai-based Tecom and the Kerala government failed to end the stalemate over the commencement of work on Smart City Kochi.

The two-day high-level meeting, which ended here on Thursday, decided to continue with the dialogue at a later stage. It was also decided to convene a director board meeting of the joint venture company between the state government and Tecom on September 30.

The much-awaited meeting had raised a ray of hope on the prestigious IT project of the state, but the issue of freehold land was a major hurdle to arrive at an amicable solution.

Representatives of Tecom headed by Fareed Abdul Rehman, CEO, insisted on getting 12 per cent of the total land area as freehold. The government had allotted 235 acres of land near Kochi for the project, of which 132 acres has already got SEZ status.

As the land lease agreement between Tecom and the Kerala government has expired, a fresh agreement has to be signed for continuing with the Rs 1,200-crore project. Though both the state government and Tecom are ready to sign such an agreement, Tecom is insisting on including freehold land as a condition in the lease agreement. The is despite the government team led by Neela Gangadharan, chief secretary, informing that the issue could be settled once the master plan is approved.

The foundation stone for the project was laid in October 2007, but there is no sign of even a site office. The Smart City project in Malta, which was initiated along with the Kochi project, is nearing completion. Smart City Kochi promises around 100,000 potential employment opportunity for IT professionals once fully operational.

Kochi, Oct 13 (IANS):

Yet another roadblock to the Smart City Kochi.  Work on the Rs.15 billion Smart City project here will start only after it gets special economic zone (SEZ) status, its board decided at a meeting here Monday.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Smart City Dubai in March 2007 and the foundation stone was also laid last year, but the actual work is yet to start.

Addressing reporters after the fourth board meeting, Smart City Kochi chairman and state Fisheries Minister S. Sarma said the board was waiting for the notification from the central government.

‘It has been decided that work will commence only after the notification comes. Since there is a court case going on by an evictee, the registration of the land will take time,’ Sarma said.

Of the total 246 acres, SEZ status has been given in principle by the central government only for 136 acres.

Denying allegations that Smart City Dubai was pulling out, project chief executive Farid Abdul Rehman said the company was happy the way things were progressing.

Last week, opposition leader Oommen Chandy said the previous United Democratic Front government had given concessions to the tune of Rs.460 million to the Dubai company, while the LDF government gave concessions worth over Rs.10 billion when it renegotiated the agreement.

Chandy also demanded a probe into the allegations.

According to the agreement, the project work was to have commenced Oct 2. Now, with the board deciding that it would wait for SEZ status, it is now clear that there would be a further delay.

Asked about the the SEZ guidelines brought out by the government, Sarma said these guidelines would not be applicable to the Smart City project.

‘The project would be guided by the agreement,’ he added.

The Smart City project would have 8.8 million square feet of built-up space, of which 70 percent would be for IT and IT-enabled services, and would employ 90,000 professionals.