KOCHI: The seven-year-long wait is over. In a major boost to the state’s IT industry, construction of the much-awaited Smart City project in Kochi will begin on Saturday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the construction of the Rs 2,000-crore project at 8.15 am at Kakkanad.Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Excise Minister K Babu, Works Minister V K Ibrahim Kunju, former Smart City chairman S Sarma MLA, P Rajeev MP, Mayor Tony Chammany and District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth will attend the function.Abdullatif AlMulla, Group CEO of Tecom Investments and vice-chairman of Smart City Kochi and Smart City managing director Baju George, director board members, including Ismail Al Naki, will also attend the inauguration ceremony.It’s after a long delay and political fight that the construction of the project is finally taking off. Though initial discussions of the project began in 2004 under Kunhalikutty, who was the Industries Minister in the A K Antony government, the project did not reach anywhere.During the term of the LDF government the project faced a couple of hurdles as the government did not want to hand over the Infopark at Kakkanad to Tecom as agreed earlier.The tug-of-war between the state government and Tecom reached a flash point and the government even considered the option of withdrawing from the agreement with Tecom.One of the main hurdles which was holding up the Smart City project for more than four years was the issue of freehold land rights. It has been decided that Tecom will be given freehold right on 12 per cent land within the 246 acres notified as special economic zone (SEZ). The Tecom will not have the right to sell the land. Tecom had insisted on getting 12 per cent freehold land outside the 246 acres.Finally the issues between the government and the Tecom were settled at a meeting between Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE in February.NRK businessman M A Yousaf Ali mediated the talks. After the meeting, the state government announced that the issue of freehold land right has been settled.Based on the discussion, a fresh lease agreement was signed between IT Secretary Suresh Kumar and the Tecom officials on February 23. After the new government under Oommen Chandy took over, he declared that the first phase construction will start before October 31.
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