Work on Kollam Technopark kickstarted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Taking its plans of having information technology parks in all districts in the state, the Kerala  government has kick started the construction of its first district level IT Park in Kollam district at Kundara.

Technopark, as part of hub and spoke model of IT development, is expanding its activities to Kundara in Kollam, around 63 kms from the capital city.

The new park will be located in about 40 acres of land adjacent to the scenic Ashtamudi lake for which Special Economic Status has been granted by the Government of India.

Chief Minister of Kerala V S Achuthanandan laid the foundation stone for the new IT park.

In a bid to tap Kerala’s unique advantage of uniform talent distribution Speaking at the function, Ajaya Kumar, Kerala's IT secretary said, “by setting up district level parks, our aim is to tap Kerala’s unique advantage of uniform talent distribution, infrastructure and supporting IT platforms and digital exchanges, excellent infrastructure availability and back-up support. Kollam Technopark has paved way for uniform development for the IT and ITeS industry in the state.”

The Kollam Technopark will come under the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark.

According to Technopark and Infopark CEO Siddhartha Bhattacharya , “Technopark Kollam will initially offer 100,000 sq.ft of built-up space with plug and play infrastructure and incubation facilities and fully developed plots of various starting from 2 acres to 5 acres. About 2.5 million sq ft built up area has been planned which is expected to offer over 20,000 direct employment opportunities. With an investment of Rs 1, 000 crore and over Rs 1,200 crore export envisaged, the first phase of built-up space is expected to be ready by mid 2010.”

Minister for Education M A Baby presided over the function.

Other dignitaries present were Kollam District Collector A Shahjahan, IT Secretary Ajay Kumar, Technopark CEO Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Technopark business development senior manager M Vasudevan. T

he Technopark, fully owned by the government of Kerala, is one of the leading IT Parks in the country and has been designed to international standards.

The Thiruvananthapuram Technopark commenced operations in 1994 and has grown to become one of the largest IT Parks where 150 internationally reputed IT and ITeS companies operate with more than 20,000 professionals on 4 million sq. ft. built-up area.

It is also one of the most advanced Parks in the country with cutting edge facilities across all spectrums of IT business needs, located in a breathtakingly beautiful campus.