SmartCity Kochi is an

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

.FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
kerala.gov.in (2007-05-13). A joint venture company named Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. was formed by

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

(16% holding) and

Dubai Holding Dubai Holding ( ar, دبي القابضة) is Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's personal investment portfolio, which owns 99.67% of the capital. It is a global investment holding company. Mohamed al Gergawi built the portfo ...

(84% holding) to implement the project. The project is spread over an area of and envisions a minimum 8.8 million sq ft of built up space out of which at least 6.21 million sq ft will be specifically for IT/ITES/allied services. The project is expected to create over 90,000 direct jobs. The Phase 1 of the project, consisting of a 6,50,000 sq. ft. IT tower named SCK-01 and associated infrastructure, was inaugurated on February 20, 2016 by the then

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

Oommen Chandy Oommen Chandy, , (born 31 October 1943) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms, from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative ...

. SmartCity Kochi is one of the first two projects of SmartCity's vision to build a large network of knowledge-based industry townships across the world. Other being SmartCity Malta, whose first phase was inaugurated in October 2010. As of 2021, SmartCity houses about 50 companies which includes

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

corporations such as

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company, organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston, is one of the world's largest oil field services companies. The company provides products and services for oil well drilling, formation evaluation, completion, productio ...

and

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

, employing close to 5,000 professionals.

History

The project was originally initiated by P.K. Kunjalikkutty the IT Minister in the UDF government in 2004. Later when

was the Chief minister, the government invited the

Dubai Internet City Dubai Internet City (DIC) ( ar, مدينة دبي للإنترنت) is an information technology and business park created by the Government of Dubai as a free economic zone and a strategic base for companies targeting regional emerging markets ...

officials for a feasibility study and later the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in year 2005. Due to protest from opposition parties who alleged that the agreement is not in the best interests of the state and due to upcoming state assembly election, the government could not go ahead with the project. After

V. S. Achuthanandan Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (born 20 October 1923) is an Indian Communist politician who was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. At 82, he is the oldest person to have assumed the office. He served as the chairman of Admin ...

took over as the chief minister, he invited the

team for another round of discussions. He proposed new suggestions and altered the earlier MoU signed by the

government. On 13 May 2007, the officials of the Government of Kerala and

TECOM The Marine Corps Training and Education Command (TECOM) is the primary training command of the United States Marine Corps. Commands within TECOM There are two major commands that fall under TECOM – Training Command and Education Command. Tr ...

Investments signed the updated framework agreement. Then for the next four years, the project was in a standstill mode due to few unresolved differences between state government and TECOM. The main hurdle was TECOM's demand for selling rights on the 12% free-hold land. Government was ready to give the 12% free-hold land only inside the SEZ, which made it impossible for TECOM to sell that portion to a third party under the

SEZ A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

policy by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. These issues were resolved on 2 February 2011, in a meeting between Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and His Excellency Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Fiscal Committee for Dubai World Group and

Group, UAE. This breakthrough was arrived as a result of the mediation by the Vice Chairman of

Norka-Roots The Non Resident Keralites Affairs abbreviated as NORKA is a department of the Government of Kerala formed on 6 December 1996 to redress the grievances of Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs). It is the first of its kind formed in any Indian state. ...

and a renowned businessman from the state M. A. Yousuf Ali.

Progress of the project

After the breakthrough on the disputes in February 2011, the project has gained momentum and is in the construction stages now. Construction of SmartCity was launched by the Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy on 8 October 2011 in a glittering event held at site. The ''SmartCity Experience Pavilion'', which locates the offices for the administrative and project management team, was launched on 9 June 2012. The Phase I of the project was inaugurated on February 20, 2016 by the then

. Ministry of Commerce have granted a single SEZ status for entire 246 acres of land in December 2011. There were few issues in getting a single SEZ status as the land is separated by a waterbody. Approval for the project as a single SEZ was important to avail the benefits of a multi-purpose SEZ. The first phase which started operations in May 2016, involves a four storied building with 6,50,000 sq. ft. space, which is one of India’s largest LEED Platinum rated IT buildings. The second phase, which includes development in excess of 6 million sq. ft., is currently in progress and expected to be completed by 2021. The development is carried out with the support of various co-developers who have signed agreements with SmartCity Kochi. Sands Infra, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi based

LuLu Group LuLu Group International is an Indian Emirati-based multinational conglomerate company that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 2000 by M. A. Yusuff Ali from ...

, is constructing 32-storied twin towers which are slated to become India's tallest IT towers. The development encompasses 3.7 million sq.ft of built up area with the potential to generate jobs in excess of 30,000 when fully occupied. Further developments include the construction of 1.2 million sq.ft of built-up space across the two towers by Bangalore based Prestige Group, 1.5 million sq.ft by Dubai based Holiday Group, 4,00,000 sq. ft. by Maratt Ltd and a modern school with the capacity to accommodate over 3000 students by Dubai based

GEMS Education GEMS Education, founded as Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), is an Indian Emirati-based education company. It is a global advisory and educational management firm, and is the largest operator of kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in th ...

, world’s largest private provider of K-12 education. Phases three, four and five are also under discussion as the potential investors are planning to build ready-to-move-in residential plots with an estimated amount of Rs.4000 crore.

Agreement

According to the agreement signed by the Government of Kerala and Tecom investments, the project expects an investment of 2000 Crore. The project would be spread over . On completion, SmartCity Kochi would be one of the largest IT parks in the country. The project is expected to have minimum of built up space with a minimum of set aside for IT/ITES/allied services. It was to be the first SmartCity project in India and second in the world by the Tecom Investments group.Smart City Project: Agreement signed
kerala.gov.in (2007-04-14).

Location and connectivity

SmartCity Kochi is located approximately 12 kilometres (7 mi) from downtown Kochi and 22 kilometres (14 mi) from the

Cochin International Airport Cochin International Airport is an International airport serving the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Located at Nedumbassery, about northeast of the city centre, Cochin International Airport is first of its kind which is develo ...

. It is located in

Kakkanad Kakkanad is a major industrial and residential region in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It is situated in the eastern part of the city and houses the Cochin Special Economic Zone, Infopark, Smart City and KINFRA Export Promotion Industrial ...

, which is the

Ernakulam district Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part o ...

headquarters. The project site is located adjacent to

InfoPark, Kochi Infopark, Kochi is an information technology park situated in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. Established in 2004 by the Government of Kerala, the park is spread over of campus across two phases, housing 541 companies which employ more than ...

, one of the state owned IT parks in Kerala. The presence of InfoPark, SmartCity, KINFRA Park, etc., makes the region of Kakkanad a very important center for IT/ITES in the state of Kerala. PeakAir Pvt Ltd handles a major portion of the data traffic inside SmartCity and has a Data Center inside SmartCity, which provides the park with 100% uptime data connectivity. Other major bandwidth providers such as

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Tata Communications Tata Communications Limited (previously known as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) is an Indian telecommunications company. It was previously a government- owned-telecommunications service provider and under the ownership of Department of Telec ...

, BSNL, Reliance,

Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, ...

and Power Grid Corporation of India are also present in the park.

References

External links