FOUNDATION STONE LAID

The laying of foundation stone for the Rs 1700 crore Smart city project, a joint venture between the Kerala Government and Dubai's TECOM Investments, was held at a function in Edachira, Kochi. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and TECOM Executive Director, Fareed Abdul Rehaman, jointly laid the foundation stone at the function. Chairman of TECOM and SmartCity, Dubai, Ahmed Bin Byat, who was to participate in the function, could not make it and his speech was read out by Fareed Abdul Rehaman.

State ministers, S. Sarma, M. Premachandran, C Divakaran and Mons Joseph were present on the occasion while State Chief Secretary, P.J. Thomas, welcomed the gathering. The project will create the ideal infrastructure, environment and support systems for knowledge-based industries. Based on the models of Dubai Internet city, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge village, it will be one of the largest IT parks in India when completed having 8.8 million square feet built up space in the area.

After nearly a year of intense negotiations between the ruling CPM-led LDF government and the TECOM officials, the MOU was signed on May 13 this year. It promises to create 90,000 job opportunities in the coming 10 years.