OF INDIA THE TIMES OF INDIA
First Published : 18 Jun 2009 03:39:00 AM IST
By Krishnamurthy Ramsubbu
Coming soon, 1,000 sq km IT zone
FACTFILE: * The region identified for the IT project starts from outskirts of Chennai to its north and extends up to Kancheepuram and Chengalpet to its south and world be bordered by the East Coast Road on its East. * Special IT industry economic zone is expected to be approved by this-end. It is likely to attract investments of over Rs. 1 Lakh crore. * The project would be executed in two phases. The first phase would be completed in five years. It would cover a maximum of 20 per cent of the project area. The next phase would be completed within 15 to 20 years. * First phase work would start in Kancheepuram and Chengalpet districts. * The first phase would also include two townships of 2,000 acres and housing capacity of 2.5 lakh people each. |
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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government is planning a special IT industry economic zone spanning 1,000 square kilometres, according to T Willington, director of projects, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO).
The project, worth about thousands of crores of rupees, is likely to attract investments of more than Rs one lakh crore and is being termed as ‘IT investment region’.
Willington was speaking at a FICCI-MIBC (Malaysian-Indian Business Cooperative) conference on real estate and infrastructure here.
He said the petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region at Cuddalore which had planned investment of Rs 19,000 crore, and the IT investment region near Chennai, were major projects apart from the 69 SEZs being planned in the State.
He told Express that the project report had been sent to the Centre. “We expect the approval by the end of this year, after which we will begin work on phase 1 of the project. The project will be many times larger than the Cuddalore project,” he added.
The project, he said, would be executed in two phases wherein the first phase covering not more than 20 per cent of the project area would be completed within five years and the next phase within 15 to 20 years.
The identified region spans from the outskirts of Chennai to its North and extends upto Kancheepuram and Chengalpet to its South and will be bordered by the East coast road to its East.
In phase one, development will start in the Kancheepuram and Chengalpet areas, “The idea is to take the pressure off the metro. Since the Northern side with Chennai is developing, we will focus initially on the southern side of the project area,” Willington noted.
“Around 250 square km should be sufficient for such a project but we are going in for 1000 square km because we don’t want to congest development within a small area,” he added.
This region would be administered by a development authority on the lines of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. Two new townships of 2,000 acres and housing capacity of 2.5 lakh people each would be created in phase one.
Willington said that once the project was notified, developers would be free to acquire land and start developing land. “There will be no compulsory acquisition by the government except to create social infrastructure such as roads.”