Smart city - An IT Investment in Kochi

KOCHI is located at Ernakulam district in Kerala state hailed as God’s own country,south west coast of India. Kochi is known as “Queen of the Arabian sea” and also Gateway of Kerala.Its colonial name is Cochin.

The western Ghats on the east and Arabian sea on the west.The mountains and sea provides moderate equatorial climate.It is one of the major tourist destination.Kochin port and international airpot had a world wide link.

Kochi became most popular city in Kerala due to its trade and commercial growth.Today Cochin is a boosting industrial centre with large and medium scale industries like ship building,petrochemical refining,handicrafts and spice trading.FISHING and SEA FOOD EXPORT is one of the major industries in and around Kochi.COCHIN SHIPYARD LTD. is the builder of largest ships. Cochin has a connecting link to the Europe and middle east through the sea. The head quarters of the SOUTHERN NAVAL COMMAND is in Kochi. The petroleum refining company KOCHI REFINERIES LTD. Is in Kochi.India’s first large scale fertilizer plant “FACT” Fertilizers and chemicals Travancore Ltd is in Kochi.The COCHIN STOCK EXCHANGE which providing online trading facilities in Kochi.The INTERNATIONAL PEPPER EXCHANE supplies first quality pepper world widely.The KERALA HIGH COURT is in Kochi.Other industries like HINDUSTAN MACHINE TOOLS,PREMIER TYRES,HINDUSTAN INSECTICIDES,TRAVANCORE KOCHIN CHEMICALS,INDIAN ALUMINIUM COMPANY,KERALA ELECTRICALS AND ALLIED ENGINEERING COMPANY,TRAVANCORE RAYONS,KERALA AGRO MACHINERY CORPORATION etc. are in Kochi.

VALLARPADAM CONTAINER TERMINAL

India’s first international container tran-shipment terminal was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Vallarpadam island in Kochi on 11^th Feb.2011. India’s major portion of export and import of containers were shipped through Singapore and Colombo port. This situation will change now. So this will decrease the disadvantages like addl. expenditure and long transit time.This will enhances the large cargo movement internationally through the east west sea lane.This terminal can handle four million cargo per annum.The railway link through the Vembanad lake also is very peculiar with 4.62 km long railway bridge. DP world of Dubai investing Rs.1600 crore for core terminal facilities and central govt. investing Rs.1617 crore for rail and road facility.

INFO PARK KOCHI is an IT infra structural programme supported by the govt. of Kerala.It can provide fine infrastructure for office space with connectivity for various companies within its campus.

SMART CITY KOCHI

SmartCity is a joint-venture company formed by both members of Dubai Holding such as TECOM Investments and Sama Dubai.

Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt Ltd
Kochi SmartCity is officially known as Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt Ltd is a joint venture company formed by SmartCity of Dubai and the Kerala Government. It is registered in India.

The suggestion of Smart City project was during the tenure of Mr A K Antony as Chief Minister of Kerala in the year 2004

Next Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy showed lot of interest to bring TECOM Investments to Kerala.

Dubai Internet City (DIC) and Kerala government agreed in principle to setup the SmartCity Kochi in May 2005.

The Kerala cabinet approved the draft for Kochi SmartCity project in 11^th Aug 2005

The (MoU) Memorandum of Understanding for SmartCity was signed in 9^th Sept 2005.

The Chief Minister of Kerala Mr. V. S. Achuthananthan took further steps to continue the project, after TECOM admits to several changes proposed by him.

The Foundation stone for SmartCity project unveiled by chief minister Mr. V. S. Achuthananthan in 16 Nov 2007.

The Kerala government and Tecom representatives made an understanding on proceeding with SmartCity project in 3^rd Feb 2011, which was in limbo for about five years.

Mr. M. A. Yusuf Ali the great NRI businessman showed a key role in bringing both parties together to get a green signal for this project. The Minister of Fisheries Shri S.Sharma was the chairman of smart cityKerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and the UAE cabinet minister Mohammed Bin Abdulla Al Gargavi signed a new agreement.Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE, announced after signing the minutes of the meeting that work would be started in a few months. According to the new agreement, Kochi SmartCity will get freehold rights on 12% of the land without selling rights. The freehold area would come to about 29.5 acres of total 246 acres earmarked for the project. The balance is to be given to the promoter-company on lease for 99 years.

Smart City – “The Global net work”

SmartCity is a global network of self-sustained townships for knowledge-based industries based on the model of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village. The main purpose is to develop and manage knowledge industry townships worldwide.

SmartCity provides knowledge oriented companies (IT comapanies) and business parks to attain the setup of business without major investments on construction, buildings, networks etc. SmartCity provides all the necessary infrastructure for the companies to start the business in a profitable way.

The Smart city brings enormous opportunities for investors. It provides prosperity of opportunities to governments, investors, businesses and local communities.
SmartCity provides outstanding standard of living facilities in the form of Schools , Educational institutions, Hospitals,Retail and recreational facilities,Amphitheatre, Lagoon, Hotels and hospitality facilities, Residential complexes, Gymnasiums and health clubs, Specially designed public places, Meeting areas, Social and cultural events etc
SmartCity provide a substantial boost to knowledge-based industries like Information Technology, ICT, Visual and other media. In addition to an increase in job creation, SmartCity will facilitate ICT training centers to build a new talented generation. Retailers will get prosperity of opportunities, and local service sectors will grow in their businesses in SmartCity. A high development will come in direct jobs and indirect jobs in and around Kerala especially in Cochin. Other support services such as education, retail and hospitality, and health care will see an increase in demand. The ability for companies to take long leases on land allows investors to develop services and infrastructure to the specific needs of the market.International business development opportunities also increase with the smart city which highly improve the foreign currency flow to India and Indian economy boost surprisingly leading the country in a top position in all sector.

The physical work on smart city project of dhs.1.6 billion started on oct.9 ,2011.The first phase of smart city kochi will open within one and a half month. Arround 2017 entire project will become fully operational.Arround 90,000 job openings will come. Smart city will allow multinational and international it companies to start their software development business.