Dubai based Tecom company to exit from Kochi Smart City project

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has decided to exclude the Dubai-based Tecom Company from the Smart City Kochi project. This was the touted project to bring global investment to Kerala.

The first phase of the project, signed in 2011, became a reality in 2016. However, even after 13 years, the second phase didn't materialise and the project deepened in a crisis, unable to meet any of the stated goals. Thus the decision was made to exclude the Dubai-based Tecom Company.

The Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday approved the recommendation given by the committee chaired by the Chief Secretary after examining the crisis of the Smart City project. The policy to part ways will be designed in consultation with Tecom in a mutual agreement. The Cabinet also proposed to appoint an independent evaluator to calculate the compensation amount to be paid to Tecom.

For this, the government appointed a committee consisting of IT Mission Director, Infopark CEO, OKIH (Overseas Keralites Investment and Holding Limited) MD Dr Baju George. SmartCity IT Township is adjacent to Kakkanad Infopark. The project started with the announcement of 90,000 jobs and buildings in 88 lakh square feet of area. But Tecom could not comply with any of these conditions and thus pushed the project to a crisis.

The government of Kerala holds a 16 percent stake in the project, while the Dubai holding group has 84 per cent. The Chief Minister is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. So far, there is only one building in the Smart City. 37 companies came here in various categories, including IT. Six other companies are construction partners. The project has already paved the way for a Rs 2609 crore investment.

Of this, Rs 1,935 crore worth of construction came from co-developers directly identified by the government.