The much-hyped project, which was launched recently, is being executed by a newly floated company, Creative InfoCity Ltd (CIL), in which $800 million Creative Choice holds 89 per cent and GIL the remaining 11 per cent stake in an initial equity base of Rs 25 crore. According to Creative Choice president, Mr Dilip Barot, a large number of firms from the Silicon Valley, mostly of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), besides many Indian companies have submitted Letters of Intent (LoI), signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) or are negotiating with the CIL to set up their facilities at the InfoCity.

The list includes big names, including one manufacturing semi conductors and computer chips. However, Mr Barot was reluctant to divulge the names of all the companies, as there is a secrecy clause in force till the project takes off. Mr Barot, who specially flew in here from Palm Beach Gardens (Florida) to take part in the InfoCity launch function, exuded confidence that the first Info Tower, covering 180,000 sq ft of space, equipped with two dedicated earth stations of 120 and 40 mbps bandwidth and other state-of-the-art infrastructure, would be ready for occupation by September 2001 or even earlier, subject to co-operation of other parties involved in the project. "While phase-I of the project is estimated to cost around Rs 200 crore, to be ready in 4-5 years," he said, "phase-II of the project has been kept flexible.

The entire project is designed to be market-driven, including the brick-and-morter structures, comprising offices, housing accommodation, five star hotels, shopping malls, banks, multiplexes, clubs, international schools, etc." Meanwhile, he said, several banks, domestic FIs and FIIs had shown keen interest to meet the debt component or the bulk cost of the project.

Mr Barot said that the new InfoCity would have more value-additions than that available at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai or New Mumbai. Even the floor space to be offered in the range of Rs 1,500 to 2,000 per sq ft would be much cheaper than any other city, he said. Contrary to adverse notions, he said, "Gujarat and particularly Gandhinagar is one of the finest destinations for the IT industry to grow, be it with respect to availability of local talent, quality of life or industrial peace.