Technopark and Taurus sign agreement on Phase 3 development

India’s one of the largest information technology park notched a major milestone as Technopark entered the third phase of its infrastructure development by inking an agreement with US-based Taurus Investment Holders on the ‘downtown’ project.

Being undertaken with Rs 1,200 crore of foreign investment, the ambitious plan, to be carried out on 20 acres of spce, was formally signed by Boston-headquartered Taurus Investment Holdings President Erik Rijinbout, its India Country Managing Director Ajay Prasad and Technopark CEO Girish Babu in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Minister for IT and Industries P K Kunhalikutty and former Technopark CEO Shri G. Vijayaraghavan were present at the function held at the CM’s conference hall in the Government Secretariat. IT and Industries Principal Secretary P H Kurian gave the welcome address.

Hailing the agreement as ‘momentous’ in the history of Kerala’s IT sector, Shri Chandy said, “This project was first discussed at the Emerging Kerala conference in September 2012. Those who raised questions on the outcome of Emerging Kerala are now criticising this project.”

The Chief Minister declared “full support” from the government for the project. “We should move with the times; the government has a clear vision to do so,” he said.

On his part, Shri Kunhalikutty assured that any contentious issues that may arise in the project would be overcome. “This project is a feather in the cap of Kerala’s current developmental streak.”

‘Downtown Technopark’, located between Technopark Phase 1 and the US Technologies Global campus, is a mega project that will cater to the nearly 50,000 employees at this IT hub. The project, to be completed in two stages, will provide employment to 20,000 people. In the first stage, two buildings with 18 lakh sq ft built-up space will be constructed in 10 acres in Technopark’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The framework also includes the development of 9.73 acres in the no-SEZ commercial land for utilities like retail malls, hotels, convention centres and multiplexes.

“The construction on the first building for IT services, the retail mall and the hotel will start in January next year,” said Shri Ajay Prasad. “It is scheduled to be completed by March 2018. The work on the second hotel and IT building will be completed in January and June 2020, respectively.”

Launched in 1990, Technopark is home to over 300 companies, employing 40,000 professionals.