The much-awaited Smart City project, proposed to be built in Kochi, will take another major step forward on November 16 with the government deciding to lay the foundation stone on that date.

The state had earlier decided to conduct the ceremony on the 13th of the month. However, it was postponed due the to inconvenience of the project promoters Tecom and will now be held on 16th, said a source.

The much-hyped $350-million project had seen the first concrete step when the agreement for the proposed technology venture between the state government and the Dubai-based Tecom was inked on May 15, 2007. The project, to come up at Kakkanad in Kochi is expected to be constructed by adopting globally-benchmarked environmentally-friendly practices that will make its developments highly energy and resource efficient.

The Kochi Smart City is expected to create a network of industry clusters that will support the growth and development of knowledge-based companies across the world, it is believed.

It may be recalled that the agreement to set up the Smart City at Kochi came after a long wait since the announcement of the project.

Through the agreement with Tecom, the government has ensured that it would own 16 per cent stake in the project initially, which would be hiked to 26 per cent after a five-year period.

The government will have two members, including the chairman, in the 10-member Smart City director board.

After two years, the government stake would increase to 26 per cent and the number of government representatives in the board will be raised to three. It is expected that in 10 years' time, the project will see around 90,000 job openings being created, most of them in the IT and ITes segments.