Chandy seeks clarification on Smart City agreement

Thiruvananthapuram, May 14 (UNI) Welcoming the signing of the Smart City agreement with Dubai-based Technology and Media Free zone Authority (TECOM), Opposition Leader in the Kerala Assembly Oomen Chandy today alleged that there was no transparency in the agreement.

Asking Chief Minister V S Achutanandan to clarify certain issues pertaining to the agreement, Mr Chandy, talking to newspersons here said, that he should clarify if concessions had been given to the TECOM and if so, how much.

He should also make public the value of the 100 acre Kerala Electricity Borad land and the ten acre KINFRA land, which was included in the 246 acre land that was being given to TECOM on lease for 99 years for Rs 104 crore.

In the agreement, it had not been stated how much land was being given as free hold, he said.

Regarding creation of new employment through Smart City, Mr Chandy said the United Democratic Front government had assured to create 33,000 direct jobs. But in this agreement, the word 'direct' has been removed and just says 99,000 jobs would be created. Everyone knew that in the IT sector, only direct jobs were created and no indirect jobs.

Mr Chandy was also critical of the LDF government going for 26 per cent share after five years and said it would not be practical.

''The agreement says that the government will have 16 per cent share in the beginning and after five years it would be increased to 26 per cent. But after five years the share value would have increased tremendously and the government will not be in a position to purchase it,'' he said.

He also said the Chairmanship for the government was already proposed by the UDF agreement and it was not a new one.

On his government's decision to transfer the already developed Infopark campus in Kochi to TECOM, Mr Chandy justified it and said the decision was taken to speed up the process.

''The neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were behind TECOM for starting a Smart City in their states and the UDF government was of the strong view to have the Smart City at Kochi. It was with this determination that his government decided to transfer Infopark to TECOM,'' he said.

''The IT world is developing and time is precious. We have lost three years in the name of Infopark,'' he said and added it was proposed that the amount received by the transfer of Infopark would be used for the development of IT in other districts.

Referring to the earlier agreement which specified that no government-supported IT infrastructure project should be developed in the region, Mr Chandy said it was for avoiding unnecessary competition in the field.

UNI