5 Reasons why Smart City Project is Still Pending
TECOM , based in Dubai, is a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, a global company dedicated to knowledge and life-improving industries . Four years back they planned to install a ’Smart City’ project in kochi ( the queen of Arabian Sea) and laid foundation stone for the project.
People who have been living under the darkness of unemployment kept their hope on the ‘Smart City’ project and even became day dream believers……..
But! The project is still pending! ……. Well I got some reasons for why it is pending .
1. First of all , they are (TECOM) not ready to share the ‘Coconuts’ & other ‘Bonuses’ that they get from the project land.
2. They will create more than 2 lakhs of job opportunities , but not exactly 2 lakhs!!
3. They are not interested in repeated Hartals, Strikes, etc..etc..
4. They won’t allow the growth of kochi’s own common birds a.k.a Mosquitoes!
5. Ultimately the Smart City Project would put the State of Kerala on the IT map of the world…Now thats Scary !!
In short ‘Smart City’ project in Kochi can be Defined as : Coming , Coming Soon, On the Way, almost………………..Damn! Is it a Day Dream?!
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5 Reasons why Smart City Project is Still Pending
TECOM , based in Dubai, is a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, a global company dedicated
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Ha ! Ha! Ha! my dear lixonic well said. Hartal is in our blood & mosquitoes are our friends.
on March 9th, 2010dear lixonic ! How many of our political leaders could speak proper hindi & English. Just imagine when they attend the parliament session how they will be conveying the problem the people of Kerala face. There is no strong voice to throw light on the potentiality of our state , this is the prime reason why major projects are snatched away by other states. Our leaders are capable of only one thing that is “Hartallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll” Let god himself save his own country. What else.
on March 9th, 2010Nice to meet you sanjay.!..anyways God won’t help us until we save ourselves..;)
on March 9th, 2010Strides in IT Sans Smart City
REPORT ON Date: 16-12-2009
The massive efforts of the State Government to develop information technology industry in such a way in the State as to give employment to thousands of educated youth are largely fruitful, although the smart city project has not yet taken off. The insistence of the company Teecom, the chief promoter of the project, for having complete rights over the land stands as a stumbling block. It must not be forgotten that the previous government’s bid to hand over the entire Inforpark to smart city was stalled due to the timely intervention of the LDF. Now the stupendous effort of the government is taking IT industry development in the State to new horizons beyond the smart city.
In spite of the delay in materializing the mega infrastructure IT facility project viz the smart city, the development of IT in the State has been untrammeled. It is making real strides in the State. The latest in a series of IT centres that are built up in the State is the Koratty IT Park which is conveniently located near the Nedumbassery international.airport. The park is coming up in a 30 acre campus and in the first stage itself 70,000 sq.feet area will be developed for IT companies.
The IT park at Koraty will function under Kochi Infopark which is a landmark of IT development in the State like the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark. Previously there were nefarious efforts to bestow the whole of Infopark on the proposed Smart City. But the present government decided to retain Infropark under the government. Since then several IT majors have set up shops at Infopark. At present 45 companies function in a sprawling campus of a hundred acres. Till now 20 lakh sq.feet area has been built up for prospective companies. More than 600 crore has been invested at this centre. Software exports recorded a giant leap in Inforpark. Whereas in 2006 software exports were for a meagre Rs. 79 crores in 2009 it has crossed 400 crores. There has been an addition of 5000 persons in the workforce. A building complex called Athulya is coming up in the infopark.
For the second stage development of Infopark government is acquiring another extent of 160acres. Development in the second stage is conceived in such a manner as to yield 50000/- jobs additionally in the sector. The IT Park at Kundara in Kollam district is coming up under the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark. More than 150 companies do business in Technopark giving employment to more than 20000/- IT professionals accommodated in State-of-the-art office area of 40 lakh sq.feet. The expenditure requirement of an IT company in Technopark is only one third of what is incurred in similar IT parks elsewhere. The third stage of Technopark is coming up in the campus and with its completion there will be complete utilization of the land available here.
Technocity which can be considered as the fourth stage of Technopark is coming up in a 450 acre sprawling area near the present Technopark beside Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam National Highway. The possibilities of IT sector in spite of global economic meltdown have prompted the state government to implement a strategy of decentralized development of IT in the State. Techno lodge conceived as a miniature IT centre at the panchayat level to help small entrepreneurs to set shop has proved immensely successful. The experiment is slated to be replicated in several places.
In order to facilitate IT development in northern part of the State construction of a Cyberpark will be shortly begun at Kozhikode. Under this Cyber Park IT centres will be constructed at Eramath in Kannur and Cheemeni in Kasaragod districts. The construction of technopark at Cherthala, Ambalapuzha and Kundara are under completion. Thus, the objective of the State Governemnt to develop information technology industry in the whole State is under realization. y.
on March 9th, 2010Delay is due to the poor financial condtion of TECOM. There is not issue with the govt. You can get more info abt the delay about the project from this link. Get more info from this forum http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?s=9604a28e7fe457027c402e86e3c60658&t=430574&page=144
on March 9th, 2010Smart City – Malta’s latest white elephant?
“Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi last Sunday declared that although Claudio Grech and chief financial officer Antoine Portelli had resigned, everything was going ‘according to plan’. MaltaToday analyses the hyped-up start and the potential fall of the SmartCity project”
Read more : http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/10/07/t6.html
on March 9th, 2010ohhh!!! I think i hurt someone’s sentiment . Then i thing the over awareness & profound consciousness for the people of the state must be cause that prevents the government to cling a prospective project. Hi Hi Hi Ha Ha Ha Ho HO.
What! The Bus Hartal is not going to take place. OhHHHHHH!!!! a Sign of Relief !
on March 10th, 2010@sanjay nair :)
on March 10th, 2010Yes u said right. Reason is the awareness and consciosness of the present LDF government and you should understand people like u doesnt have that knowledge at all… Read this if u want to get that knowledge …. Try to know about the facts before making some stupid comments ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Smart City – Malta’s latest white elephant?
“Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi last Sunday declared that although Claudio Grech and chief financial officer Antoine Portelli had resigned, everything was going ‘according to plan’. MaltaToday analyses the hyped-up start and the potential fall of the SmartCity project”
Read more : http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/10/07/t6.html
on March 10th, 2010LDF’s main cause of conflict with Umman Chandy govt. was on handing over of Infopark land to Smartcity proted by TECOM and Kerala government. does anyoen knows what is the status of Infopark land now? I know it because I have been woking in Infopark for last 5 years. 40% of the land is handed over to Wipro, 15% to L&T, 15% to Leela and 10% to IBS. Kerala Govt: hold only 20% of the land and 2 buildings(Vismaya ans Thapasya). Thapasya is a very old building. More than 1 Laks sqft space are still remaining vacant in these govet buildings. If the LDF govt can hand over most of its Infopark land to Wipro, L&T,Leela group, etc. whcy can’t it hand over the Infopark land to Goverment owned Smartcity and make the project become a reality.
on March 11th, 2010Infopark is constructing a 5.5 lakh sq feet building which will be ready by the mid of this year. Smart City is a company similar to Infopark only. They are contructing buildings and providing facilities for the companies. Since govt doesnt have enough funds to contruct buildings, govt signed a lease agreement with TECOM. But they didnt contruct any building in the last 3 years. They are only interested in the free holding. Free holding means the right to sell the land. Govt has not given this free holding rights to Wipro/TCS/Leela/LnT.
You can check the malta smart city project. They have constructed a building of 5 lakh sq feet in 4 years. But Infopark cud able to contruct around 5.5 laksh sq feet in 18 months. So govt understood that TECOM doesnt have the financial capability to do that. Thats why govt is going to look for other investors. This Smart City itself is just a hype. We dont need Smart Cities in Kochi. We need IT companies like TCS/Wipro/Bosch/HCL etc etc. Smart City cannot ensure any jobs. Only 10000 employees are working in Dubai Internet City itself. So govt is really doubting the financial capability of TECOM. People like OOmmen Chandys or Kunjalikuttys interests was to create a hype to help the real estate business people in and around Kakkanad.
TECOM is not an IT company. They cannot create any jobs. Wipro, TCS etc are IT companies. Thats why govt gave land to them. Govt didnt sell the land to these companies. They have constructed campus on a lease agreement for 90 years. Govt can take over this land after the lease period. If they dont develop the land in s stipulated time, then govt can take over the land. Oomme Chandy tried to sell Infopark to TECOM. Infopark doesnt sell land. It gave land for lease to builders like Brigade and LnT
Govt has not sold any land to Wipro/TCS/Leela. Its a big mistake made by UDF govt to invite TECOM for Smart City. Anyway the present govt did not do the mistake of handing over most of the land in Kakkanad. They had lot of doubts abt TECOM. Not it is prooved that TECOMs financial position is worse than Infopark Kochi. So govt is asking infopark to start the contruction of 2nd phase of Infopark.
Some important points to remember. Bangalore is called as the IT capital of India. In Electronics City Bangalore, aorund 6000 employees are working and the main emplyers are Infosys, Wipro, HCL etc. Infopark is also trying the same model of Electronics City not trying the model of TECOM. I am sure that Infopark can easily achieve the target of bringing more companies to Kochi. TCS had asked for 50 acres of land in Infopark in 2005. They didnt give the land due to this Smart City hype. Actually Kochi lost lot due to this much hyped Smart City. now govt has taken a bold stand to remove TECOM from this project. Govt will look for other private investors for Smart City. In Bangalore builders like RMZ, Prestige and all are proved that. Govt of Kerala has signed an agreement with RMZ for an IT park in Kinfra land in Kakkanad. Govt and people in kerala are not at all interested to give free holding to TECOM. They are not at all a trusty worthy builder. They proved that in the last 3 years.
on March 11th, 2010Correction : In Electronics City Bangalore, aorund *60000 employees are working and the main emplyers are Infosys, Wipro, HCL etc
on March 11th, 2010Why Malta ?????? why not ! Cuba, North Korea, China, Vietnam . Say Thump down!! to red termites!!!! The best propagandist mass of the world.
on March 13th, 2010Not only Malta, Dubai Internet City has only 10000 employees working there. Almost same as Infopark Kochi. Indian builders like DLF, Unitech, RMZ, Salarpurai, Prestige etc etc are much better than this TECOM. These builders helped cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurgaon etc to lead in IT sector. TECOM doesnt have any experience like them. But media in kerala have a hidden agenda to promote TECOM. I dont know why are they hyping so much about this Smart City. You can check the Malta Smart City website to see the building which they contructed in 4 years.
http://www.smartcity.ae/
on March 13th, 2010Tecom’s “financial position” is patent to everyone by now as their Malta project is on schedule and ready to open in 6 months.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/14/stories/2010031453460500.htm
Achuthanandan or any of his ministerial colleagues are never known for honesty or uprightness and this is just one such example. Moreover the fact that there are several companies doing underhand methods to grab the project.
The link given to a manipulated forum indicates that thath this is unsurprising that he holds the said view. Comments on Lulu mall, probably by the same author, shows how much it is worth
http://www.cochinsquare.com/lulu-shopping-mall-cochin-things-you-never-knew/#respond
He claims Lulu is 630,000 sq ft retail area. Check out Lulu website : it says retail area alone is 1.7 million sq ft.
The fellow looks more of a desperate propagandist than anything else.
on March 14th, 2010Smart City project only media hype. I will always blame LDF government for this never will happen project
on March 14th, 2010Yes it is media hype. Why are you blaming LDF govt for this ? You shuld praise govt for the efforts made by govt to start the Smart City. If TECOM doesnt start the project, then govt will develop it as part of Infopark 2nd phase or will give this project to other players like Muthoot group. Govt already took the decision. Govt was waiting for the recesion woes to reduce. Also govt initiated projects like HDIL Cyber City and RMZ parks in Kochi. If this govt continues for another 5 years, then Kerala IT exports will overtake Karnatakas in another 5-10 years
on March 14th, 2010http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technopark,_Kerala
With the inauguration of the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2). (85,000 sq m.) Thejaswini on February 22, 2007, Technopark became the largest IT Park in India. Trviandrum gained lot due to this Smart City hype. Thanks to Kunjalikutty and Ooomen Chandy for this big Smart City hype. They wasted 4 years of Infopark development due to this hyped project. They and medias in kerala also delayed the HDIL Cyber city project for 2 years. Thanks to High Court and Supreme court for the order to start the Cyber City work. Medias in kerala are not exposing these fraud politicians.
on March 14th, 2010@Arun hm.. i don’t think that LDF govt will get a second chance…So nothing will happen to overtake Karnatakas IT sector …and lets see what UDF gonna do after this :-)
on March 15th, 2010If LDF govt doesnt get a chance, then there will not be any governance for the next 5 years as in 2001-2006 period. There will be only fights between various groups in Congress and filling of govt PSUs and offices by the relatives of Ommen Chandy and Kunjali kutty. Anyway it is good that present govt has started lot of things. Hope next govt will continue that atleast.
on March 15th, 2010any way that was anice comments.i,m not fully convinced by the ldf govt and not a little bit by udf govt.but i think udf govt has a clean image,as far as the high budget project was concerned.but the fact that they will not finish any work.they will mould it to a state that no one can finish it.as far as kerala is concerned the udf and ldf govt are always play games for their mental and physical relief and for the economical security of their own family.It is not a corruption,becoz the prosperuty of a starts begins from a family.improved families make a good society and thereby devoloped state and a devoloped country.unfortunately our representatives got only five years.by those five years they can devlope their family only.DONT BLAME THEM!
on March 16th, 2010Image of UDF govt is created by media. In kerala governance happened only for 25 years when LDF ruled kerala. But all the medias in kerala are against LDF. So UDF comes in power after 5 years. Businessmen want UDF to rule kerala. Media is under the control of them. LDF does lot of things, but media creates all the useless controversies are spoil the good things done by the government. Popular medias in kerala are mathrubhumi and manorama. Mathrubhumi is under the control of Veerendrakumar & P V Gangadharan(AICC & KPCC member) and manorama is under the control of Oommen Chandy. Channels like Indiavision is under the control of Muslim League & PV Gangadharan. Asianet is also under the control of people like KP Mohanan(Now he is with Jaihind) and shares are owned by Rajeev Chandrasekhar (BJP Supporter). Also LDF does lot for the poor people and business men is not getting much benefits from govt. So they are using the corrupt media to fight agaisnt the LDF govt. This is how UDF is coming to power. But when UDF rules kerala for 5 years, people will understand that they dont know the governance and people will vote against them. Medias are trying level best to get power for UDF. But people realize that they dont know how to rule.
on March 16th, 2010kairali is surely ldf,s media -desabhimani -right????
on March 16th, 2010arun -how much do u get paid for typing?????????????????????? all politicians should be blamed,smart city may not come even if udf dos’nt want it to -right?
on March 16th, 2010People know that kairali is partys channel and deshabhimani is partys newspaper. Owner is party. Then manorama and mathrubhumi should appoint congress KPCC members as the chief editor of these newspapers as deshabhimani. Then only people will understand that it is a party news paper. Now they are claiming that they are not supporting any parties. They should stop this claim. Now people is having an impression that these newspapers are independent. Thats why they have a good circulation in kerala. Charlie : Dont try to quantify everything in the name of money. People like you are thinking only about money. So you have a wrong feeling that all the people are working only for money. This is not the truth. You are a person who does anything for money. But I am not like that. I do lot of good things without caring about money. One tmore thing , IT industry doesnt mean Smart City. As per UDF it is only Smart City. Many real estate guys(Related to UDF, Media, Other Business men) are trapped due to this Smart City hype. So they are worried and want SMart City. IT professionals in kerala are not all worried about Smart City. There are lot of other projects coming up in Kochi which will help for the development of IT industry in Kochi. If u want to know the details, you can visit this website. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1370.
on March 16th, 2010http://www.keralait.org/search_result.php?project_id=1&location_id=1&start=1 – See the details of Infopark. Other projects ………………………
Govt Initiatives
————–
Infopark expansion Kochi – Athulya & Phase 2, Cherthala, Koratty, Ambalapuzha Infoparks
Technopark expansion, TechnoCity, Kollam Technopark
Kozhikode Cyber Park, Kannur and Kasargode IT park
Govt is starting new PSUs as announced in budget.
Revival of loss making state PSUs
Central PSUs
————
BEL – Kinfra – Kalamassery
BEML – Palakkad – Started – Govt is acquiring 900 acres more for BEML
Coach factory – Palakkad
HAL – Kasargode – 200 acres
Private Companies
—————–
IBS – Kochi – Gave land for IBS in Kochi
TCS – Kochi – Gave land in Kochi
RMZ – Kinfra – Kochi
Brigade – Infopark.
HDIL Cybercity – Kinfra – Kalamassery
Smart City – Infopark – TECOM
Most of the private companies have not started operations due to the recession issues. But Koratty Infopark is fully occupied now. It is really an achievement of Infopark. But construction of BEL centre in Kalamassery is goin on. Also BEML is functional in Palakkad now. I really thank AK Antony for his efforts to bring all these PSUs to kerala. Cities like bangalore got lot of advantages due to these PSUs.
on March 16th, 2010regarding smart city, kerala people tells they are highly educated people,but brainless human being , never thinks future of kerala,in 21st century andhrapradesh is developing , poor people didnot have much food to eat , but still poor country like andrapradesh is developing is the small example ,nothing much to say more ,bye
on March 17th, 2010You said right. Many people in kerala are brainless. Thats why politicians like K M Mani, Oommen Chandy, Kunjalikutty, Balakrishna Pillai, K Karunakaran, etc kind of corrupt politicians are still in politics and easily win in any elections. Since these kind of fraud people are there, we cannot tell that kerala is a highly educated state. Kerala is better than Andhra because these people are far far better than YSR Reddy and Jagan Reddy(Crorepathi who earned 10000s of crores in the last congress rule). Also Kerala have never seen frauds like Raju(Satyam) who also earned crores using govts money through Maytas Infra.
on March 17th, 2010hey guys! ..its not the problem of LDF or UDF or etc.. its ‘OUR’ problem …i believe we will solve it TOGETHER…Jai Hind
on March 17th, 2010I loved this debate. Very one sided. Lots of blame throwing and finger pointing. A true example of Kerala politics
on June 2nd, 2010they dont have money my dear friend dont blame kerala govt.
on October 4th, 2010