Infopark-II will have mall, hotel

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Social infrastructure has received prime of place in Infopark’s phase-II plans, with as much as 30 per cent of the 160 acres being left for a school, hospital, five-star hotel, shopping mall, boat club and sports centre, among other facilities.

“The work on phase II has gathered pace and we are looking to complete land allocation in two years. The project will have a built-up area of 80 lakh sq ft and will provide employment to 80,000 IT professionals”, Gigo Joseph, Infopark CEO, told Deccan Chronicle, while setting aside claims from some quarters that Infopark and SmartCity would have to compete with each other for clients.

“One major complaint (of IT professionals) about Kerala is that it does not have adequate social infrastructure including entertainment avenues. Phase-II will be an answer to such complaints,” the CEO said.

Of the total investment of Rs 2,500 crore for phase-II that’s coming up at Kunnathunad and Puthencruz villages, the government would invest Rs 500 crore and the remaining will come from the co-developers.

The masterplan has been developed by US-based Canon Designs, which has envisaged a green township on the banks of the Kadamprayar river.

US-based Cognizant and IIM-Kozhikode are the first two entrants in the project. The former, coming up on 15 acres, will have a 12 lakh sq ft built-up area and will provide employment to 15,000 professionals. The IIM-K has been allotted five acres for the Kochi campus.

“The Infopark has a single window clearance for all licences and those tying up with the project need not go after different agencies for them”, Gigo Joseph said.