SEZ status to 36 acres at Kochi Infopark

Giving a boost to the IT developments of Kerala, the Central Government on Tuesday granted formal approval for special economic zone (SEZ) status to 36 acres of the 160 acres for the second phase of Infopark in Kochi.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Approvals, Ministry of Commerce, held at New Delhi.

The second phase of Infopark Kochi is to be developed on 160 acres of land at the Kunnathunadu and Puthencruz villages. Around 2 lakh sqft of space will be built on the 36 acres offering employment opportunities to around 2,500 people. There will be around 8 million sqft of builtup area in the second phase.

SEZ status has already been given to 78 acres as a part of the first phase of Infopark, which could offer around 10,500 employment so far. Of the 50 million sqft to be built in the first phase, the construction of buildings with a builtup area has been completed.

“This time the Infopark got the SEZ status within a fortnight of submitting application. It will be a boon to Infopark,” a top official with Infopark said.

“According to norms, the construction of building in the SEZ land should be completed within three years of granting the status. We will be starting works of infrastruture development and the construction of buildings soon,” he said. The park will house domestic parks as well as Special Economic Zones for IT/ITES.

The current financial year’s budget of State Government has an allocation of Rs 50 crores towards infrastructure development schemes for the second phase.

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