Govt plans park for IT majors

The government is setting up a sprawling IT park on 2,000 acres around the City to create the much-needed space for IT firms to expand their activities.

IT companies jostling for space in Bangalore can hope for better days ahead. The government is setting up a sprawling IT park on 2,000 acres around the City to create the much-needed space for IT firms to expand their activities.Disclosing this to reporters here on Wednesday, IT and BT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu said besides IT companies, BT, nano, hardware and aerospace firms will be accommodated in the proposed IT park.But the park will not be in one particular location. It will be spread around Bangalore, wherever land is available. The IT park would be developed under public-private partnership and nobody will be forced to part with their land for the purpose, he said.

The minister said IT and BT companies, including Infosys and Wipro, have been requesting the government to allot land for their expansion activities. “The government, therefore, has decided to develop an exclusive park for them,” he explained.

Knowledge ParkBesides, plans are on the cards to develop an IT Knowledge Park for SMEs (Small and Micro Enterprise) in Bangalore. It will come up in around 25 acres of land and an estimated Rs 10,000 crore investment is expected from SMEs in the proposed park, the minister said and added that the government was yet to finalise the location.Already, 300 SMEs have approached the government with a demand to set up this park, which would be based on “plug and play” system. This will help SMEs conduct experiments and innovations at a cheaper cost.

An expression of interest will be called from the private sector to set up the park and the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation will be appointed the nodal agency to implement the project. The entire project cost will be borne by the promoter, he said.‘No IT migration’Naidu further claimed that of late no IT firm based in Bangalore had moved out of the State. “In fact, Karnataka is a better place than others for investment and do business. For instance, those who tried to set up shop in Tamil Nadu have had a bitter experience. No plan gets clearance easily there. They (companies) realised that there are traffic jams in other cities also,” he stated.He said he held a meeting with representatives of IT firms recently and that they have assured him that they would not move out of the State. The government on its part has committed that it will do all that is necessary, he added.

Tier-II cities
The government has plans to develop IT parks in Tier-II cities like Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Mysore and Mangalore. In Belgaum, the IT park will be developed on 200 acres of land and a similar park in Hubli-Dharwad will come up on lands spread over 500 acres.