The stage is set for the Technocity project at Mangalapuram near here to take off, heralding an ambitious move to develop the State capital into a major hub for future technologies.
The project will have one portion devoted to IT and ITes companies and the other dedicated to a Knowledge City envisaged as a centre of excellence for emerging technologies like Block chain, Cybersecurity, Cognitive sciences, Mobility and Analytics.
Academic partner
The Knowledge City will have an academic partner to promote new technologies.
“It will also offer space for SMEs and start ups and facilitate business collaboration in frontier areas”, says Hrishikesh Nair, CEO, IT Parks, Kerala.
“On the whole, the Technocity project is expected to change the face of Kerala and transform it into a technology destination. It will also spur the ongoing efforts to convert Kerala into a digital State,” he told The Hindu .
Land acquisition proceedings have been completed and the construction of the first IT building in the Technocity campus is scheduled to begin soon.
The design of the signature building has been finalised and the construction is expected to be completed by 2019.
The Technopark phase-3 campus, which features the largest IT building in India with one million sq ft, is almost filled up; simultaneously, efforts are on to get the Downtown project off the ground.
Commercial space
The Boston- based Taurus Investments has entered into an agreement with Technopark for the project involving the development of IT and commercial space.
The work will be starting in a few months time, as confirmed by Taurus authorities.
“We have shifted the focus to the Technocity campus to avoid overcrowding in Technopark,” Mr. Nair said.
“With the National Highway Authority of India yet to finalise plans for a grade separator on the Kazhakuttam bypass road, it may be disastrous to add more buildings now at Technopark. Construction of the new IT building, ‘Shiriya,’ has also been temporarily put on hold for the same reason,” he said.
Crowded Technopark
Currently, the Technopark campus has close to 60,000 employees and during rush hours, traffic along the entire stretch slows down to a crawl.
IT companies are looking up to the government to expedite the Light Metro project that would ensure better connectivity right upto the Technocity campus.
