Final agreement on Smart City within a week: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 1 (UNI) The final agreement for the Rs 1500 crore Smart City project at Kochi to be undertaken by the Dubai Internet City (DIC) will be signed within a week, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.

The State Cabinet approved the signing of the final agreement with the DIC with some new clauses that were advantageous to the state, The Chief Minister told newspersons here.

As per the project plan, the DIC would set up six million square feet of built up area in the next ten years for IT and IT-Enabled Services, providing job opportunities for 60,000 people.

He said if the DIC failed to create at least 20,000 jobs and two million square feet of built up area in ten years, the government would have the powers to take over the project. As per the agreement, the Smart City was supposed to generate a minimum of 33,300 jobs within a decade on the basis of the 100 acres of land provided to it free of cost by the government. If it failed to meet the target, a fine of Rs 6,000 for each job should be given to the government.

He said the purpose was to develop the Smart City into a special economic zone.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the proposed project was signed on September nine, 2005 at Kochi between Kerala government officials and the representatives of the DIC.

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