Work On Kochi Smart City To Be Speeded Up: Minister

The much-hyped and much-delayed Rs.5,000 crore Kochi Smart City mega IT project will start rolling soon, a Kerala minister said.

Smart City Kochi is being built by Smart City Dubai and the ground-breaking ceremony was in October last year. Speaking to reporters, IT Minister P.K.Kunhalikutty said that things are shaping and work will start soon. "The talks of a financial crunch being faced by Smart City Dubai are not true. We have already told them that things have to move fast and they have agreed to speed up things so the construction can begin," said the minister.

Announced by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in 2004, the project was only inked by his successor V.S.Achuthanandan at the fag end of his term (2006-11). After Chandy returned to power last year, it was only this June that a state-of-the-art 10,000 sq.ft sales pavilion was built and opened.

However, the pavilion - according to the proposed plan of action approved by both the Kerala government and the Smart City Dubai - was late by three months.

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According to this plan, the first phase of the 3.5 million square feet building had to be ready in 18 months and but now appears will be delayed too.