IT park plan and policy to be rebooted

Global tenders for EoI to be floated for Mettupalayam IT park

Back in the reckoning: The IT park proposed at Mettupalayam in 2008 did not take off for various reasons.

The Puducherry government will soon float global tenders inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) for establishment of an Information Technology Park at Mettupalayam industrial estate. The government has appointed Arun L. Desai, Secretary to the Government, as the nodal officer for the execution of the project.

“The government will soon appoint a consultant to draft the terms for the project. The consultant will be selected from the central empanelled list and the process has been set in motion. The government has identified around 25 acres of land in Mettupalayam for the IT Park,” Revenue Minister M.O.H.F. Shahjahan told The Hindu.

Simultaneously, the government has planned to set up an electronic manufacturing cluster, instead of a Special Economic Zone. A study has been conducted by CRISIL in this regard.

The Centre has been providing financial incentives to several States for the establishment of an electronic manufacturing cluster. The administration had been attaching high priority to this project and would apply to the Centre seeking funds for the proposal, Mr. Shahjahan said.

During the previous AINRC regime, land acquisition for a dedicated IT park at Mettupalayam in Puducherry had failed to take off because of various reasons, including high lease and land rates. A single tender was floated and it failed to materialise, a senior official said.

New policy

Mr. Shahjahan said that the government would soon unveil the new IT policy to attract more investment and provide jobs to the local youth. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and stakeholders had already submitted their wish list. The new IT policy would subsume the major concessions announced in the industrial policy unveiled by the government last year.

The Directorate of Information Technology studied different models of IT policies adopted by various states. While a few States offered subsidies for the development of IT infrastructure, others had prioritised employment for local people.

Sources said the IT policy unveiled in 2008 had failed to attract IT industries to Puducherry because it ignored the inputs of stakeholders.