Alappuzha, February 23, 2009
The Hindu
The information technology (IT) sector will be the State’s largest employment generator and revenue source in five years, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.
Two lakh direct job opportunities and over five lakh indirect ones would be created in the sector in that time.
He was speaking after laying the foundations for the Cherthala Infopark at Pallipuram here on Sunday.
Achuthanandan said the State was recording the highest growth rate in IT-enabled-services (ITeS) in the country. Software exports from Infopark, Kochi, recorded an 85 percent growth last year, while those from Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram registered a 65 percent growth.
IT infrastructure
For the sector to grow further, basic IT infrastructure would have to be enhanced by at least five times the existing facilities in five years.
The State government was planning to invest Rs.1,500 crore to Rs.1,800 crore over three years in the IT hubs in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and surrounding districts. Private investment
He said the government was expecting private investment of at least Rs.4,000 crore in its Information Technology parks.
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, pointing out that knowledge-based industries were best suited for the educated Kerala society, said the State would have to utilise the global economic slowdown period to the hilt.
This would be done by setting in place basic infrastructure so that investors could come down once the slowdown was over, the Finance Minister said.
He said the State had a new model for Information Technology development in its concept of decentralised development.
Laying of 248 km of roads to IT parks would be given administrative sanction this year.
With connectivity in all aspects being Kerala’s advantage over other States, the State was poised to grow. The government had a clear-cut vision and outlook on this, he said.
Cherthala park
IT Secretary Ajay Kumar said the Cherthala Infopark would come up on 28 hectares of land, of which 4 hectares would be developed for a commercial complex.
The Rs.100-crore first phase would be completed by 2011.
This was the second Infopark in the district after the Ambalapuzha Infopark, for which the foundations were laid last week.
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