With the stage set for finalisation of financial bids submitted by short-listed consultants, the State Government will launch work on a Signature Tower in Visakhapatnam on the lines of Cyber Towers of Hyderabad . The APIIC has been given the mandate to take up the project.
A senior official of APIIC told The Hindu on Thursday that the evaluation of technical bids had been completed and the consultancy services for selection of joint venture partner to develop IT space on a commercial format would be finalised in fast-track mode. The Signature Tower would have twin buildings on an area of 10 acres. An extent of 21 acres on Hill No. 3 of Rushikonda in Madhurawada IT SEZ had been identified for the project. Along with the tower, social infrastructure, convention hall, hospitality, shopping, recreation and entertainment zones would be created in the vicinity of the tower. “The tower will showcase Visakhapatnam as a global IT hub,” the official said. It was learnt that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was being invited to lay the foundation stone for the tower.
After financial evaluation, scores secured by the short-listed bidders would be considered to select the bidder. If required, as per tender guidelines, further negotiations would be held. The consultant was supposed to have experience in structuring a mega project in PPP/joint venture mode with an investment of over Rs.200 crore.
IT turnover from Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh, is estimated between Rs.1800 crore and Rs.2,000 crore in the just concluded financial year. “It has emerged best tier-II location in India after Pune and we have set a target to increase IT turnover to Rs.4,000 crore by 2017,” Joint Director of Software Technology Parks of India M.P. Dubey said.
Joint venture partner to develop IT space on a commercial format to be finalised in fast-track mode
