Karnataka ramps up IT corridor plan

BANGALORE: The Government of Karnataka has prepared a report on setting up an IT corridor between the Eastern and Northern sector of the Garden city. The financial details of the project was not revealed. According to sources, the final report is with the IT ministry for a review and will commence operations as soon as it gets the nod.

"The government will spend on basic infrastructures such as roads, sewage, electricity, etc. The private sector of realty will have to build up the basic infrastructure and promote the corridor for the IT and related industries," said, Vivek Kulkarni, IT Secretary, Government of Karnataka. About 12,000 hectares of land is available for Information technology infrastructure.

The 25 to 30 km stretch between Electronic City across the Begur Road up to International Technology Park Limited, in Whitefield has been identified as the IT corridor in Bangalore, more popularly called the Technology Capital of the country. Both Electronic City and ITPL play host to marquee names such as Infosys, Digital GlobalSoft, Seimens, Velankanni Software, SAP Labs, AOL, 24/7 Customer. The stretch also houses IT companies like Wipro, HTMT, NeST, HCL-Perot, Dell and GE’s Jack Welch Research Center.

"The IT corridor will be built as a self sustaining city complete with schools, restaurants, residential complexes, shopping malls, cineplexes, etc," added, Jawaid Aktar, Director, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka.

The Government of Tamil Nadu had also promoted a "Golden Triangle" for IT in 1998. Much has been developed in the Government promoted Siruseri IT park, apart from individual software companies like TCS, Polaris, PentaMedia, setting up their own development centers.