KERALA TO ADOPT 3-BRAND STRATEGY FOR NEW IT PARKS

Sankar Radhakrishnan, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu Business Line

The Kerala State Information Technology Mission is adopting a three-brand strategy for setting up new district-level IT parks in the State.

Depending on which part of the State they are located in, the new Government-owned district-level IT parks in Kerala will carry the ‘Technopark’, ‘Infopark’ or ‘Cyberpark’ tags. The IT parks in the southern districts of the State will have the ‘Technopark’ tag, those in the central districts the ‘Infopark’ tag and those in the Malabar region the ‘Cyberpark’ tag, said Dr Ajay Kumar, Secretary-IT, Government of Kerala.

Operationally too, the new IT parks will be extensions of Technopark Thiruvananthapuram, Infopark Kochi or the proposed Cyberpark Kozhikode, he added.

Currently, the State Government is in the process of setting up four new IT parks in Kollam, Chertala and Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha district and Koratty in Thrissur district. Also on the cards are IT parks in Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod.

Work on the 40-acre Technopark Kollam has already started and the foundation stone will be laid next month, Dr Ajay Kumar said. In Chertala too, work on the 65-acre IT park has started. In Koratty, the IT Mission has taken possession of the 30 acres on which the IT park will be set up, while in Ambalapuzha 80 of the park’s 100 acres have been acquired, he added.

Meanwhile, construction of a Rs 100-crore office building and a guest house in Infopark Kochi will begin in February, he said. Similarly, work will soon begin on a new building in Technopark Thiruvananthapuram. To be built with an investment of Rs 150 crore, this building will be in the third phase of the Technopark, he added.

Over the next 2-3 years, the State Government will invest around Rs 1,500 crore in the various IT parks across the State, he pointed out.

Private investor interest in IT infrastructure projects such as the proposed Technocity in Thiruvananthapuram’s suburbs and Phase-3 of Technopark Thiruvananthapuram has declined following the global economic slowdown, Dr Ajay Kumar acknowledged. However, the State Government will go ahead with these projects, he emphasised. The idea is to invest in creating IT infrastructure so that Kerala is well placed to benefit from the next growth cycle, he explained.