SmartCity, Kochi
Encyclopedia
SmartCity Kochi is a planned IT
township to be constructed in Kochi
, Kerala
in India
. Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is a joint venture company formed to develop the Kochi Smart City project. Government of Kerala (16% share), TECOM Investments (84% share), a subsidiary of Dubai Holding
are the main investors of the company . This project envisions minimum 8.8 million sq. ft. of built up space out of which at least 6.21 million sq. ft. will be specifically for IT/ITeS/allied services. The project is expected to create over 90,000 direct jobs.
SmartCity seeks to build a large network of knowledge-based industry townships across the world. SmartCity Malta
, the agreement for which was signed with the Maltese government in April 2007, and SmartCity, Kochi are the first two projects of SmartCity's global network.
was the Chief minister, the government invited the Dubai Internet City
officials for a feasibility study and later the Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) was signed in year 2005. Due to protest from opposition parties who alleged that the agreement is not in the best interests of the state and due to upcoming state assembly election, the government could not go ahead with the project.
After V. S. Achuthanandan
took over as the chief minister, he invited the Dubai Internet City
team for another round of discussions. He proposed new suggestions and altered the earlier MoU signed by the Oommen Chandy
government. On 13 May 2007, the officials of the Government of Kerala and TECOM Investments signed the updated framework agreement . Then for the next four years, the project was in a standstill mode due to few unresolved differences between state government and TECOM. The main hurdle was TECOM's demand for selling rights on the 12% free-hold land. Government was ready to give the 12% free-hold land only inside the SEZ, which made it impossible for TECOM to sell that portion to a third party under the SEZ policy by the Government of India
.
These issues were resolved on February 2, 2011, in a meeting between Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and His Excellency Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Fiscal Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE. This breakthrough was arrived as a result of the mediation by the Vice Chairman of Norka-Roots and a renowned businessman from the state Mr M. A. Yousuf Ali.
parks in the country. The project is expected to have minimum 8800000 sq ft (817,546.8 m²) of built up space with a minimum of 6200000 sq ft (575,998.8 m²) set aside for IT/ITES/allied services. It was to be the first SmartCity project in India and second in the world by the Tecom Investments group.
According to the agreement, TECOM had agreed to drop its demand for selling rights on the 12 percent freehold. As per discussions, the 12% of freehold land, which comes to 29.5 acres of the 246 acres, would be within the special economic zone, and shall "not be alienable", which would mean that it cannot be sold, but can be leased by the promoters..
TECOM will prepare the master plan and present to the director board within 30 days, after which the 12% land would be converted from a lease-hold to free-hold.
Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group said he was confident that the work on the SmartCity could be taken up in as early as three months.
Achuthanandan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, also lauded the services of Mr. M. A. Yusuf Ali in bringing the two sides to the negotiation table and working out a solution to the long standing issue.
The initial term of lease is 99 years, however, it can be extended for a further period of 99 years. According to the frame work agreement, at least 70% of build up area of first 8.8 Million sq.ft should be used for IT/ITeS related purposes. Concept master plan of the project will be prepared by December 2011 by the newly appointed Master Planner, cannon Designs. Government of India notified 131.41 acres as a SEZ in March 2011 and agreed in September 2011 to approve entire area as a single SEZ. Government also notified SmartCity as an Industrial Township.
In May 2011, Government of Dubai formed a Project Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of His Excellency Ahmad Al Tayer. Five member committee is mandated to ensure the speedy implementation of the project, considering the importance of this project for Indo-UAE relations. Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Oommen Chandy, Minister Mr. K. Babu and Mr. Yussuf Ali, Vice Chairman of NORKA were nominated to SmartCity board as Special invites. They join other two nomines from the Government, Minister Mr. P.K. Kunjalikutty, who is the Chairman of SmartCity, and Mr. T. Balakrishnan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala. Mr. Abdullatif AlMulla, Group CEO of TECOM is the Vice Chairman of SmartCity and Dr. Baju George is the Managing Director of SmartCity.
Construction of SmartCity was launched by the Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy on October 8, 2011 in a glittering event held at site. SmartCity pavilion will be completed in January 2012 and construction of first building also is expected to commence in January 2012.
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
township to be constructed in Kochi
Kochi
-Places:* Kochi, a city in the state of Kerala, India, formerly known as Cochin* Kingdom of Cochin, a former feudal city-state on Malabar Coast, India** Fort Kochi, one of the three main urban components which constitute the present day city of Kochi, Kerala, India...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is a joint venture company formed to develop the Kochi Smart City project. Government of Kerala (16% share), TECOM Investments (84% share), a subsidiary of Dubai Holding
Dubai Holding
Dubai Holding is a holding company that belongs to the Government of Dubai . It manages and controls 20 companies, which operate in real estate, hospitality, finance, healthcare, energy, research, education, entertainment, media, internet, tourism and biotechnology...
are the main investors of the company . This project envisions minimum 8.8 million sq. ft. of built up space out of which at least 6.21 million sq. ft. will be specifically for IT/ITeS/allied services. The project is expected to create over 90,000 direct jobs.
SmartCity seeks to build a large network of knowledge-based industry townships across the world. SmartCity Malta
SmartCity Malta
SmartCity is a technology park currently under development in Kalkara, Malta. The plan is to transform the Ricasoli Industrial Estate into a state-of-the-art information technology and media city on the models of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. The project was unveiled on 10 September...
, the agreement for which was signed with the Maltese government in April 2007, and SmartCity, Kochi are the first two projects of SmartCity's global network.
History
The project was originally initiated by Kunhalikkutty, the Kerala IT Minister in A K Antony's Government in 2004. Later when Oommen ChandyOommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Kerala. He has held the Chief Minister of Kerala position earlier from 2004 to 2006, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.-Early life:Oommen Chandy or 'Kunjoonju' was born...
was the Chief minister, the government invited the Dubai Internet City
Dubai Internet City
Dubai Internet City is an information technology park created by the government of Dubai as a free economic zone and a strategic base for companies targeting regional emerging markets. The economic rules of DIC allow companies to avail themselves of a number of ownership, taxation and custom...
officials for a feasibility study and later the Memorandum of Understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
(MoU) was signed in year 2005. Due to protest from opposition parties who alleged that the agreement is not in the best interests of the state and due to upcoming state assembly election, the government could not go ahead with the project.
After V. S. Achuthanandan
V. S. Achuthanandan
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of the state of Kerala. He had been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India since 1985, and until July 2009, when he was reverted to the Central Committee of the party owing to his...
took over as the chief minister, he invited the Dubai Internet City
Dubai Internet City
Dubai Internet City is an information technology park created by the government of Dubai as a free economic zone and a strategic base for companies targeting regional emerging markets. The economic rules of DIC allow companies to avail themselves of a number of ownership, taxation and custom...
team for another round of discussions. He proposed new suggestions and altered the earlier MoU signed by the Oommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Kerala. He has held the Chief Minister of Kerala position earlier from 2004 to 2006, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.-Early life:Oommen Chandy or 'Kunjoonju' was born...
government. On 13 May 2007, the officials of the Government of Kerala and TECOM Investments signed the updated framework agreement . Then for the next four years, the project was in a standstill mode due to few unresolved differences between state government and TECOM. The main hurdle was TECOM's demand for selling rights on the 12% free-hold land. Government was ready to give the 12% free-hold land only inside the SEZ, which made it impossible for TECOM to sell that portion to a third party under the SEZ policy by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
.
These issues were resolved on February 2, 2011, in a meeting between Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and His Excellency Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Fiscal Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE. This breakthrough was arrived as a result of the mediation by the Vice Chairman of Norka-Roots and a renowned businessman from the state Mr M. A. Yousuf Ali.
Agreement
According to the agreement signed by the Government of Kerala and Tecom investments, the project expects an investment of 2000 Crore. The project would be spread over 246 acres (99.6 ha). On completion, SmartCity Kochi would be one of the largest ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
parks in the country. The project is expected to have minimum 8800000 sq ft (817,546.8 m²) of built up space with a minimum of 6200000 sq ft (575,998.8 m²) set aside for IT/ITES/allied services. It was to be the first SmartCity project in India and second in the world by the Tecom Investments group.
Future of the project
After the breakthrough on the disputes in February 2011, the project gained momentum. The Master plan for the project which was expected to be completed by March 2011 has been delayed since the promoters have scrapped the agreement with the UK based firm Colin Buchanan. Company selected a new Master Planner in October 2011.Agreement reached on 2 Feb 2011
On 2 February 2011, an agreement was reached between the Kerala State Government and TECOM Investments. The discussion was held between Kerala government officials, TECOM representatives and Dubai government officials, mediated by Mr. M. A. Yusuf Ali, who is an influential businessman in United Arab Emirates. An agreement was made on nine basic points chief of which had been the status of 12% free-hold land.According to the agreement, TECOM had agreed to drop its demand for selling rights on the 12 percent freehold. As per discussions, the 12% of freehold land, which comes to 29.5 acres of the 246 acres, would be within the special economic zone, and shall "not be alienable", which would mean that it cannot be sold, but can be leased by the promoters..
TECOM will prepare the master plan and present to the director board within 30 days, after which the 12% land would be converted from a lease-hold to free-hold.
Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group said he was confident that the work on the SmartCity could be taken up in as early as three months.
Achuthanandan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, also lauded the services of Mr. M. A. Yusuf Ali in bringing the two sides to the negotiation table and working out a solution to the long standing issue.
New lease agreement signed on 23 Feb 2011
On 23 February 2011, a new lease agreement was signed by Kerala IT Secretary Mr. Suresh Kumar and Tecom Investments CEO Abdullatif AlMulla, in the presence of Kochi Smartcity chairman minister S. Sharma. The new lease agreement includes 2 separate lease deeds for 131.41 acres and 114.59 acres of land respectively. Even though SEZ approval was received earlier for 133 acres of land, it was found that there is actually only 131.41 acres of land in that property. A separate SEZ application will be filed for the rest of the 114.59 acres of land since this land is not directly connected to the other property. The Government of Kerala will be responsible to obtain SEZ status for the entire land.The initial term of lease is 99 years, however, it can be extended for a further period of 99 years. According to the frame work agreement, at least 70% of build up area of first 8.8 Million sq.ft should be used for IT/ITeS related purposes. Concept master plan of the project will be prepared by December 2011 by the newly appointed Master Planner, cannon Designs. Government of India notified 131.41 acres as a SEZ in March 2011 and agreed in September 2011 to approve entire area as a single SEZ. Government also notified SmartCity as an Industrial Township.
In May 2011, Government of Dubai formed a Project Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of His Excellency Ahmad Al Tayer. Five member committee is mandated to ensure the speedy implementation of the project, considering the importance of this project for Indo-UAE relations. Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Oommen Chandy, Minister Mr. K. Babu and Mr. Yussuf Ali, Vice Chairman of NORKA were nominated to SmartCity board as Special invites. They join other two nomines from the Government, Minister Mr. P.K. Kunjalikutty, who is the Chairman of SmartCity, and Mr. T. Balakrishnan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala. Mr. Abdullatif AlMulla, Group CEO of TECOM is the Vice Chairman of SmartCity and Dr. Baju George is the Managing Director of SmartCity.
Construction of SmartCity was launched by the Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy on October 8, 2011 in a glittering event held at site. SmartCity pavilion will be completed in January 2012 and construction of first building also is expected to commence in January 2012.