Smart City Kochi - Under Planning & Development

[DileepKS]

I think TECOM still gets 12% freehold land within SEZ as per the original agreement. The 4 acre is in addition to the original 246 acres, 100% SEZ parcel. The only thing to know now is whether the 4 acres is freehold or not, IOW, what rights does TECOM have on that 4 acres.

[DileepKS]

Bingo! MI!! That too!! The central govt policy allows ANY lifestyle development within SEZ. the state policy restricts only services to the staff of the processing area, which makes it totally useless.

Now the fun begins!!

[mohammedirshad06]

Kunjahalikutty- the State IT Minister will be the Chairman for Smart City Kochi, with Chief Minister- Ommen Chandy becoming permanent invitee to the Board. IT Secretary will also be another director in the Board.

The first phase of the proposed mega IT project, Smart City Kochi, would be commissioned before Oct 31, 2012, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Thursday.

The Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, which had first finalised the project during its previous term, held its first meeting Thursday with the builder of the project, Smart City Dubai.

Addressing reporters here along with the Dubai officials, Chandy said all the issues have been cleared and an action plan for the project has been drawn up.

‘Before August 31 this year, their office that was closed down last year at Kochi would be reopened. On Oct 31, the foundation stone of the headquarter building of the project would be laid and the same day the construction work for the first phase (3.5 lakh square feet) would begin and it would be finished latest by Oct 31, 2012,’ said Chandy.

The Dubai team was represented by their CEO Abdul Lateef Al-Mullah, managing director Business Park Operations, Ismail Al-Nakhi and Kochi Smart City managing director, Baju George.

Keralite businessman M.A. Yousuf Ali, who is settled in the Middle-East and was largely instrumental in reviving the project after the previous chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan asked for his services to remove the deadlock, was also present.

‘Even though we would have liked to go ahead with our agreement which was done in 2006, since a delay would occur, we decided not to make any change to the MoU that was inked between the Achuthanandan government and the Dubai partner this February,’ added Chandy.

It was nearly more than four years back that the foundation stone for the project was laid. It was held up till February this year over the issue of granting 12 percent freehold rights to the builders, outside the 246 acres of the proposed project site.

‘Currently, of the 246 acres of land, only 136 acres have got the special economic zone (SEZ) status. The next meeting to grant SEZ status is taking place in Delhi July 15 and we will get the clearance for the remaining land also. Our Dubai partner has asked for another four acres of land so as to make the project come up in an area of 250 acres and this would enable this project to get the status of ‘Services SEZ’,’ added Chandy.

‘We are committed to this project and our government has already made the necessary fund allocation for this. At this moment, we are unable to come out with the entire project cost because the cost of everything has gone up many times since we first started the discussion on this project,’ Mullah said.
The Dubai team has been asked to submit within 10 days the application to get the project to be developed as an industrial township.

Chandy also clarified that the SEZ policy of the Centre would be applicable for this project.

http://www.inewsone.com/2011/06/23/f...ned-soon/58299

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by DileepKS

I think TECOM still gets 12% freehold land within SEZ as per the original agreement. The 4 acre is in addition to the original 246 acres, 100% SEZ parcel. The only thing to know now is whether the 4 acres is freehold or not, IOW, what rights does TECOM have on that 4 acres.

I understand the remaining 4 acres will also be part of SEZ, to meet Central Govt's stipulation of minimum 250 acres for a non-sector specific SEZ.

Now they don't need outside, because the concept completely changed into Mixed use SEZ, which allows multiple options inside SEZ itself. I believe, it should aim like Mahindra World City of Chennai or things like that

[DileepKS]

Good point MI.

[mohammedirshad06]

I strongly believe, this move is good. When Kerala govt is promoting Infopark in a big way, along with other IT parks, particularly Technopark, cyberpark, the competitive edge of Smart City as an exclusive IT park won't be there.

By making a mixed services park, it can develop an edge in Finance (Kochi-Thrissur belt is one of the biggest financial hub with 4 major private banks and over 3 dozens NBFCs) and slowly move as Financial/banking hub as well as Media including animation, gaming, etc....

If Smart City promotes to more research and R&D companies, particularly in field of life sciences, surely it will make more edge than IT alone, because in Kerala we have less institutions or hubs like that. Consulting is a major business and surely Kerala has a strong edge due to skilled knowledge base. This can go in big way and in short it can support other parks nearby.

[JohnJoseph]

Infopark CEO Jijo Joseph welcomed the move of making smart city as a Services SEZ , he was mentioning that this move might help multinationals like IBM considering Kerala... May be he was just quoting IBM as an example.. but keeping the fact that the name 'IBM' is getting into Kerala related IT news on a continuous basis .... Anything to cheer...???

[RKPV]

Originally Posted by mohammedirshad06

Smart City will not be purely IT/ITES zone, but also a services zone on models of Dubai Free Zones which is a mixture of DIC, DMC, DOZ and Knowledge village.

The new decision was taken by Govt and TECOM. As per this, the Smart city will have a financial hub, a media/communications hub, a BT/Nanotechnology/R&D hub and general services hub like hotels, retail and educational institutions apart from IT/ITES hub.

I hope in India 'Real estate housing' sector also will come under 'Services Industry’. And surely it includes Resorts, hotels and even massage centers .

So it not gonna to be a IT SEZ. It will do harm to housing, hotel and tourism industry outside SEZ.

Kunjappa did well. He know how to utilize this kind of a township project on govt expenses. He is not at all interested in Elamaram Kareems project HDIL Cyber City. Shobha project will never get approved. Guess what will be the fate of Kochi in IT industry. This is not at all a good news to IT industry and it is going to kill the existing similar industry in Kochi.

Let me do a Net research, and will come back with more facts and consequences

[RKPV]

Originally Posted by JohnJoseph

Infopark CEO Jijo Joseph welcomed the move of making smart city as a Services SEZ , he was mentioning that this move might help multinationals like IBM considering Kerala... May be he was just quoting IBM as an example.. but keeping the fact that the name 'IBM' is getting into Kerala related IT news on a continuous basis .... Anything to cheer...???

IBM, Accenture, EDS are giants in IT service sector, they already have presence in metros and Tyre1 cities, and It is not any better than TCS,Infosys or CTS which are already in kerala. IBM already have a client base in Kochi for some telecom companies.

Apart from that IBM and Accenture have business consulting services , that will not come under IT category. This may be the point which CEO mentioned.

[Aslesh]

So this means that Smart City will no more be an IT park or IT based township. Enthokke ayirunnu balaham. Kunhappa is the Sharad pawar of Kerala.

[arunpr]

Originally Posted by Aslesh

So this means that Smart City will no more be an IT park or IT based township. Enthokke ayirunnu balaham. Kunhappa is the Sharad pawar of Kerala.

Mostly it will be a Smart Housing City not an IT city

[godman]

With Yousuf Ali's supermarket also

Originally Posted by arunpr

Mostly it will be a Smart Housing City not an IT city

[arunpr]

Originally Posted by godman

With Yousuf Ali's supermarket also

No man. It will not be inside Smart City. He had bought 16 acres of land near Infopark for that, just before settling the issues with LDF govt. He is very proactive

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by RKPV

I hope in India 'Real estate housing' sector also will come under 'Services Industry’. And surely it includes Resorts, hotels and even massage centers .

So it not gonna to be a IT SEZ. It will do harm to housing, hotel and tourism industry outside SEZ.

Kunjappa did well. He know how to utilize this kind of a township project on govt expenses. He is not at all interested in Elamaram Kareems project HDIL Cyber City. Shobha project will never get approved. Guess what will be the fate of Kochi in IT industry. This is not at all a good news to IT industry and it is going to kill the existing similar industry in Kochi.

Let me do a Net research, and will come back with more facts and consequences

General Services SEZ is a policy under which Dubai Free Zone Act was passed by Dubai Govt, to establish a series of Knowledge driven services industries across Dubai.

Smart City is a concept of establishing KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS across the world, outside Dubai. In 2004, which was one of the golden period of IT/ITES industry across the world, the Smart City Kochi was designed to accomodate IT/ITES projects, especially that time, Kochi was no where in IT Map.

But its 2011 today. There are nearly 5 IT/ITES projects only in Kochi itself, and more than 3 mega IT projects in Kerala alone. So Smart city, if goes along with its original IT city plan, will be another IT park just like Cybercity or Infopark or projects like that.

Companies always go for an competitive edge. Today Smart City donot have a competitive edge in IT Market. So why not we go for some industry which have a competitive edge and not yet addressed. Kerala till now didn't have a proper Multi-product SEZ other than CSEZ. CSEZ's growth is limited as its a central govt project. So naturally Smart city has a good scope in development.

Originally Posted by Aslesh

So this means that Smart City will no more be an IT park or IT based township. Enthokke ayirunnu balaham. Kunhappa is the Sharad pawar of Kerala.

CSEZ is a multi-product SEZ, I believe. But it has several IT/ITES firm. Dubai Internet city is simply part of Dubai Free Trade Zone, which houses several specialized zones like Media city, Studio city, Creative village, Knowledge Village and DOZ sharing a common area.

I believe, if a same format brought in to Smart City, it makes it more smart than mere IT city alone. For example, Knowledge Village in Dubai has attracted more than 3 dozen premium universities and research centers across the world. If we can attract such universities and research centers within SEZ, surely Kochi's growth in Knowledge industry will be higher. It can also avoid these SFI goons attacking progress of our state.

Kochi's strength in Finance haven't explored yet. Its high time we create something like Bahrain Financial city or Dubai Financial center to cater leading financial brands across the world to Kerala.

Some other industries which will get flip is Consulting in which Kerala has an advantage. An mere IT project won't alone attract these. But a mixed use will surely

Originally Posted by arunpr

Mostly it will be a Smart Housing City not an IT city

Houses won't sell, without proper industrial development. 15 years back, Kakkanad was mainly inhabitated by wolves and jackals. If Dubai wants to make some flats and make quick buck, will they able to do that in Amballur or Thycathusery? No... It means, every housing project requires a proper development project.

[sajith]

Thiruvananthapuram:The long-delayed Smartcity IT project in Kochi will be speeded up without placing fresh impediments between its Dubai-based promoter Tecom and the state government, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday said. After a round of talks with visting senior Smartcity officials from Dubai, he told reporters here the project would be carried out within the framework of agreement worked out by previous LDF regime to avoid further delay in materialising the project, which will generate hundreds of IT jobs. 'The Government is keen that the project is materialised as early as possible.Going for a fresh agreement would only delay the whole thing. So, we don't propse to scrap the earlier agreement,' he said.

The Tecom side was represented by its CEO Abdullateef al Mulla and Smrtcity Kochi CEO Baju George. Leading NRI
businessman M A Yousafali and state Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty were also present at the discussions. Both sides agreed to lay the foundation for the headquarters building by October 31 and complete the first phase of the project by October, 2012. The project would cover a total area of 250 acres and it would function under the rules of the central SEZ policy.
The Kochi Smatcity proposal first came up in 2006 and its foundation stone was laid some four years ago. However, the work failed to take off following sharp difference between the state over the issue of freehold right over part of the land demanded by Tecom
Courtesy:Mathrubhumi
http://www.mathrubhumi.com/english/story.php?id=110519

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by arunpr

No man. It will not be inside Smart City. He had bought 16 acres of land near Infopark for that, just before settling the issues with LDF govt. He is very proactive

Its not for a supermarket, but a 5 star hotel cum mall project!!! Malls of-course is part of a retail revolution happening in India.

[arunpr]

Originally Posted by sajith

Thiruvananthapuram:The long-delayed Smartcity IT project in Kochi will be speeded up without placing fresh impediments between its Dubai-based promoter Tecom and the state government, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday said. http://www.mathrubhumi.com/english/story.php?id=110519

There is a correction. It is not Smart City IT project. It is Smart City *Multipurpose project

*Multipurpose : Finance/Media/Housing/Hotel/Tourism/Education(SFI/Students union free Zone is the speciality) etc etc

Thanks to LDF govt for keeping atleast Infopark with Kerala govt !!!

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by arunpr

There is a correction. It is not Smart City IT project. It is Smart City *Multipurpose project

*Multipurpose : Finance/Media/Housing/Hotel/Tourism/Education(SFI/Students union free Zone is the speciality) etc etc

Thanks to LDF govt for keeping atleast Infopark with Kerala govt !!!

Did Smart City has some IT connantions with it? Even in 2004 the concept to create Knowledge cluster. Knowledge cluster doesn't mean IT stand alone. But in 2005, IT was more selling product among Knowledge, which is not in today's context.... So other Knowledge products like Finance, Consulting, Legal services, Research & Development, Life sciences, Creative services etc.

If TECOM can make such zones in Dubai, why should we MAKE BELIEVE only housing and hotels will come here.

If they want mere housing projects, they could take over 64 acres of land available in Thycathussery which now remains idle after Apple-A-Day's New Cochin scam and create a real estate project..... Will that sell?

[arunpr]

Originally Posted by mohammedirshad06

Did Smart City has some IT connantions with it? Even in 2004 the concept to create Knowledge cluster. Knowledge cluster doesn't mean IT stand alone. But in 2005, IT was more selling product among Knowledge, which is not in today's context.... So other Knowledge products like Finance, Consulting, Legal services, Research & Development, Life sciences, Creative services etc.

If TECOM can make such zones in Dubai, why should we MAKE BELIEVE only housing and hotels will come here.

If they want mere housing projects, they could take over 64 acres of land available in Thycathussery which now remains idle after Apple-A-Day's New Cochin scam and create a real estate project..... Will that sell?

Yes. Smart City is supposed to be an IT project.Thats why TECOM tried to take over Infopark during last UDF rule. After malta project, TECOM understood that they cannot create any IT jobs. Thats why they are going for Mulipurpose SEZ.

Dont compare apples New Cochin land with Smart City land. This is like comparing a land in Kakkanad and Nellad Cost is almost 10 times more than the apples New cochin land. If TECOM want to set up such zone, then they should buy land at market rate !!!! They should not try to do it with peoples money !!! They should learn from HDIL/DLF/Sobha. They bought land at market rates. Govt should not give these kind of concessions to real estate projects

Mostly Smart city is going to create 10000 or 20000 jobs with the so called zones. Govts land is going to the hands of some business men at throw away prices. Wipro/TCS/UST/IBS/LnT will create more jobs than this in Infoparks 100 acre land !!!!

[KMC]

let us be realistic here , if we look at the projections made by kerala govt 7 years back . I thought 7 years down the line , Kerala will be full of silicon vallies every where ... and look at IT Exports , we have grown to 2000 croresssss!!!!!!! in 15 years what an acheivement that is (is it .1% of Total IT Exports in India ??) , surprise that still we keep boasting on this when actually we are the No. 1 loosers who missed the bus altogether despite starting the first IT park in India .

Whole purpose is to create Job opportunities , and generate exports . success of smart city depends on these two factors. The impact it brings to the city is really huge.