Oommen Chandy says SmartCity first phase in 20 months

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Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, said on Saturday that the first phase works for the `2,000-crore SmartCity project would be completed within 20 months.

He gave this assurance after the inauguration of the ground-breaking ceremony for the project seven years after it was conceived.

The project, which is expected to give a major boost to the state’s IT industry, started off with the beginning of construction works of its pavilion for the marketing wing which is expected to be completed in 14 weeks.

Mr Chandy also said that the SmartCity director board had approved the project masterplan and emphasised on the need to complete the project in a time-bound manner. Meanwhile, the Smart City managing director, Mr Baju George, said the officials were planning to slightly revise the project masterplan in a month.

“The plan was made in 2005 and today we need an advanced master plan, as there have been much IT developments in the last six years,” he said. The director board has also decided to begin the road shows and campaigns for Smart City by December in Bengaluru.

The chief executive officer of Tecom Investment Group, Mr Abdullatif Al Mulla, ministers Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty, and Mr K. Babu, NRI business honcho, Mr M.A. Yousuf Ali, and Mr K.P. Danapalan, MP, attended the function.

However, Mr S. Sharma MLA, who was the chairman of SmartCity during the previous government term, said Tecom had signed an agreement in February to start the work in March. “They did not begin the work and only Tecom knows why.”