Smart City Dubai is ready for legal battle: CEO

KOCHI, INDIA: A board of directors meeting of the proposed Rs.1,500 crore Smart City Kochi concluded here on Monday without taking any decision on the fate of the IT project.

At the same time, the developer Smart City Dubai said it has no plans to pull out from the project.

Speaking to reporters here after the meeting, Smart City Dubai chief executive Fareed Abdul Rehman said: "Some more discussions have to take place because certain issues have to be resolved. We are not asking for anything new but just want those things that have been already written in the agreement and we have not asked anything new."

He also said that his company would not shy away from a legal battle against the State government on the project if things come to such a pass.

He also invited the Chief Secretary of the state to visit their office in Dubai and to see what they are doing there.

Smart City Dubai is sticking to the agreement where it has been mentioned that they would get 12 per cent freehold rights (around 30 acres from the 246 acres). The Kerala government is adamant that it will not allow any real estate dealing and it is on this that the project is hanging fire.

The war of words between Smart City and Kerala government has been going for quite some time. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan once said that Smart City Dubai was "broke". He had also asserted that his government will implement the Smart City IT project in Kochi if its promoters, Smart City Dubai, do not do so.

Interestingly, State Fisheries Minister and Smart City Kochi Chairman S. Sarma did not attend the meeting.

And for the first time there were protests at the venue of the meeting. Members of the youth organization of the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Revolutionary Socialist Party shouted slogans asking the state government to implement the project.