Hong Kong-based company proposes IT Park in Kochi

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 13 (UNI) The Hong Kong-based J B Group has envisaged interest in setting up an IT Park in Kochi in three years, and dicussions were held in this regard with Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan today.

"The talks with the Chief Minister was positive and he has basically accepted the company's proposal for an IT park near the present Infopark in Kochi" said Gowtam Kanjilal, CEO of Infiniti Consulting Corporation Ltd, a subsidary company of J B Group which deals with the real estate and investment consultancy sector.

The government had asked to submit a detailed proposal for the project, he said.

The company envisages to develop 100 acres of land for IT and IT Enabled Services and the land for the park should be identified by the government, he told reporters here after meeting the Chief Minister.

"We propose to utilise a total of seven million sqft of land and in this five million sqft will be for IT and IT Enabled Services.

The rest will be for residential blocks, hotels and power distribution systems," Mr Kanjilal said.

Claiming that the park would be completed in three years from the signing of agreement, he said it would attract an investment of Rs 1,500 crore and generate about one lakh employment.

The company had offered 26 per cent equity participation to the government and to have the land in leasehold basis for 99 years. The company had also offered Rs 85 lakh per acre for the land, he said.

When asked if the company was posing a threat to the Smart City proposed by a Dubai based compnay, he said "my group is interested in the IT sector and this is a demand based venture".

The company had identified Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Thrissur as places for potential growth where it could invest in IT, tourism and infrastructure areas.

The J B group would be developing the IT park in partnership with Regenisis, which had developed the Giga space IT park in Pune.

The J B Group of companies deals basically with diamond and ruby business apart from hospitality, mining, infrastructure, textile and refinery.

UNI