Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Tuesday 8.09.2009 that the State government had initiated moves to establish 200 small-scale information technology (IT) parks under plans to decentralise IT infrastructure in the State.

Speaking after inaugurating a 110-kV power substation on the Technopark campus at Kazhakkuttom, he said these parks would be designed to provide jobs for 50 to 100 people each. The first of them were scheduled to come up at Kadakkad and Perinad in Kollam district in November.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the small IT parks would help to extend the development of the IT sector to rural areas.

He said efforts were on to set up IT parks at Koratty in Thrissur district, Eramam in Kannur and Cheemeni in Kasaragod.

"The Cyberpark coming up at Kozhikode will catalyse the development of the IT sector in the Malabar region. The Technocity project and the next phase of development of Technopark will generate 2,00,000 jobs in the capital," he said.

Good growth
The Chief Minister said the government had helped IT companies in Kerala tide over the recession by offering a 50 per cent reduction in rental rates. "The growth rate of software exports from Kerala touched 45 per cent during the recession period, against a national rate of 15 per cent. IT exports grew five-fold over the last three years, while the floor space in IT buildings registered a four-fold increase," he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan hoped that the forthcoming talks with Tecom would help to resolve the deadlock in the SmartCity project.

Source: Hindu.com