Vijayan govt to shut Kochi Smart City project, Congress claims scam

KOCHI: As Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led cabinet decided to wind up the Kochi Smart City project, the Congress on Thursday alleged a massive scam.

Veteran Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said this winding up is a big scam and "what is now heard is that the Kerala government will have to pay compensation to the Smart City Dubai".

The Vijayan cabinet on Wednesday decided to wind up the Smart City project and a committee has been formed to work out the separation agreement with Smart City Dubai.

Defending the winding up, State Industries Minister P. Rajeeve on Thursday told the media, that the decision taken by the Kerala government to look elsewhere is not going to have any impact on the state’s development plans.

“The Infopark campus is now filled up and there are hundreds of IT companies now waiting for space. Hence, once the separation agreement is done, we will come out with a fresh programme to bring IT firms into the project,” said Rajeeve.

But Chennithala said, "This is a big scam... have you ever heard about compensation being given to a company which failed to do its job, despite being in office for the past nearly nine years?

“Vijayan who is also the IT minister has to give an explanation. What’s even more strange is that Baju George, who was part of Smart City Dubai when the agreement was inked then, is also now on the committee to work out the compensation. This is a major scam and very soon we will come out with more details,” said Chennithala.

Curtains have now come down on what was billed to be one of Kerala’s flagship IT projects -- the Kochi Smart City, a project between Smart City Dubai and the Kerala government, but State Industries Minister P. Rajeeve said they will go forward with the concept, as there is a huge demand for space.

The Kochi Smart City project was planned to have 8.8 million square feet of built-up space in a 246-acre land at Kochi of which 70 per cent would be for IT and IT-enabled services, and would employ 90,000 professionals.

Right from the start, this project ran into troubles when it was visualized by the Oommen Chandy government in 2004, after the CPI(M) led by the then Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, staunchly opposed it.

Just before the Assembly polls in 2006, the Kerala High Court gave its clearance to the Chandy government to go ahead with the project, but fearing a backlash, Chandy put it aside.

However, in 2006 when Achuthanandan, who succeeded Chandy, signed the agreement with Smart City Dubai.

But again it went into slumber on account of the then global recession and after Chandy returned to office in 2011, the project got going. At the fag end of his term in 2016, one building of the first phase was inaugurated and after that, no effort was there to go forward, when Pinarayi Vijayan became the Chief Minister in 2016.