Kochi, May 4: The Kerala Government has decided to pull out from the proposed joint venture with Cochin Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) for setting up a second software technology park in the state. Instead, the government has decided to team up with the Cochin Corporation for promoting the venture. The JV, if it sails through, will be the first software technology park promoted by a local body in the country. It will also cast a shadow over the fate of the much-hyped STP proposed by the CEPZ.Top sources in the government said a high-level meeting to ink the final deal between the state government and the Cochin Corporation would be held in Thiruvanathapuram on Monday. The meeting, to be attended among others by State Planning Board vice-chairman I S Gulati and Cochin Corporation mayor Somasundara Panikkar, besides technocrats and top brass from the State electronics department, would decide the financial structure of the proposed venture.
Sources said a major reason for the state government pulling outfrom the JV with CEPZ was the dispute over the ownership structure of the venture. They said that while the state government wanted to keep the ownership with it the export zone management was opposed to it.
Under the new deal, the Cochin Corporation is to provide its real estate located in the heart of Cochin city for the venture. The corporation has given an undertaking to the state government for making the building available for the venture soon. The 20,000-sq ft building had been leased out to the Cochin Stock Exchange for the last couple of years. CSE, as a part of its austerity drive, had decided to give the building back to the corporation retaining a single floor.
Sources said the venture had attracted a good demand from the software firms and a lion's share of the 20,000-sq feet had already been sold out. The venture would provide employment to over 500 technicians, they added.
Under the original plan, the proposed second STP was slated to come up in CEPZ with state government assistance. Theexport processing zone has put up a palatial building on its premises sinking several crores of rupees for the venture. However, with the state government's volte face, the fate of the CEPZ venture hangs fire. The plans to set up an STP got a legup with the VSNL setting up a new gateway facility in Kochi.
Sources said the state government had already tied up finances for the venture. The second STP in the state will be financed from a line of aid being extended by the central government under its technology promotional scheme.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
