The decks have been cleared for acquiring land for the long-delayed electronic hardware park project at Amballoor near Piravom with the State Level Expert Committee (SLEC) on Tuesday approving in entirety the land value fixed by the District Level Purchase Committee (DLPC).
It is a double delight for the project, coming as it does close on the heels of administrative sanction of ₹125 crore granted by the State government. With the SLEC clearing all four categories of land value fixed by the DLPC, acquisition can be kick-started as soon as the sanctioned amount is made available.
“All possible measures will be taken to make available the sanctioned amount at the earliest so that the land acquisition is no longer delayed,” said Anoop Jacob, MLA, within whose constituency the project area falls. He said the project would also benefit from the ₹1,900-odd crore allocated for major projects in the State Budget though the exact allocation for the hardware project was still unknown.
Nearly 15 acres out of the targeted 100 acres were acquired from 15 land owners towards the fag end of the previous government’s tenure by paying 50% of the assessed land value based on the condition that it would be subjected to the approval of the land value by the SLEC.
“The district administration will speed up the remaining land acquisition process. It is our priority to implement the government vision of attracting investments and creating more job opportunities for our youth,” said District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla.
The DLPC had fixed ₹4.24 lakh per cent for plots with road frontage, ₹1.05 lakh per cent for converted land with pathway, ₹97,000 for wetland with pathway and ₹60,000 for wetland with no road access. Land has to be acquired from nearly 100 land owners, out of which 65 have already given their consent letter for acquisition.
A decision regarding how to execute the project will have to be taken once the acquisition is completed. When the project was conceived, the idea was to acquire 3,500 acres for a Korean company to execute it, which did not take off. A move to implement it under the electronic hardware park scheme of the Central government also did not materialise.
But with decks cleared for land acquisition, which remains the single biggest stumbling block for projects in the State, the authorities are confident of taking the project forward.
