The government had received several proposals to provide better infrastructure facilities at Kochi, the state's comemrcial capital. Though the chief minister did not mention any particular project, Sky City and Metro railway proposals are among those pending before the government.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday said the United Democratic Front government's top priority is implementing the SmartCity IT project in Kochi after sorting out issues in the agreement the previous government had with promoters, Dubai based Tecom "which are against the state's interests."
The Kerala government on Thursday signed a lease deed with Tecom of Dubai for the commencement of the civil work of Smart City Kochi.
The Kerala government on Sunday ended months of speculation by signing the agreement with Dubai-based Technology and Media Free Zone Authority to set up the proposed Smart City on around 100 hectares of land in Kochi.
State government and the investment partner of the project was on a dispute over 'free hold land' issue.
Dubai-based Tecom, promoter of the Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) Kochi Smart city IT infrastructure project, today threatened to go to court if the state government failed to resolve contentious issues including that of "freehold land", within the next two months.
The government has informed the Dubai-based Tecom authorities about the steps taken so far in this regard and that it was prepared to hold talks with the firm, chief minister V S Achuthanandan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
Marking a major deal in IT sector in Kerala, the state government on Wednesday approved the agreement to be signed with Dubai-based TECOM for setting up Rs 1500 crore Smart City project in Kochi.
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.
In order to complete in time the project, an initiative of the Kerala government and Dubai Holding, the board also granted special powers to the executive members and strengthened the executive team.
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