The Hindu Business Line : Technopark veterans hail Smart City project at Kochi

THE Group of Technopark Companies (GTECH) and the larger IT fraternity have praised the State Government for braving the odds and taking the first firm step to realising the Smart City project in Kochi.

The State Government and the Dubai Internet City (DIC) are scheduled to formally enter into a memorandum of understanding for the Rs 1,500-crore project at Kochi on Friday. The Chief Secretary, Mr Palat Mohan Das, will represent the State Government on the occasion.

Mr V.K. Mathews, Chairman and Managing Director of the Technopark-based IBS Software Services, told Business Line that this was the smartest thing to happen to Kerala's industrial sector for a long while.

The multiplier effect this will bring to bear on future investment sentiments, both domestic and foreign, is too obvious to ignore.

Comparing the size of investments committed over a temporal scale in the State's IT sector alone would bring to focus the significance of the Smart City project.

What the State Government has been able to spare on its own has amounted to no more than Rs 200 crore over a period of the last 13 years.

But here is a deal that in one stroke generates Rs 1,500 crore in three years, which is a remarkable achievement by any standards. Not to mention the international visibility it promises to deliver to Kochi as a prominent destination for IT investments.

Smart City will also help revive the sagging fortunes of the State's IT industry turnover, which has been wallowing in the few hundred crores of rupees till date. This compares with the massive Rs 27,000 crore already logged by neighbouring Karnataka.

Another major positive impact of the Smart City project will be the overall ramifications for the `critical mass' in the form of the resident talent pool. Both thrive by feeding on each other as can be seen from the example of Bangalore.

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