Vizag ITIR proposal gains momentum

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 23, 2013: State IT department seems to be moving fast on getting approvals from the union government for the proposed Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) at Vizag.

The draft of the Vizag ITIR’s detailed project report (DPR) is said to be ready and the department is expected to send the final one after fine-tuning it in a week or two.

This move comes after bitter criticism from all the quarters following sanction of an ITIR mega project for Hyderabad, ignoring other regions in the state, at a time when tempers are high, on regional imbalances and the Centre is taking steps to bifurcate the state.

The state government had appointed Earnest and Young, as consultant, to prepare a DPR of the Vizag ITIR project.

It was reported in these columns that though an ITIR for Vizag was sanctioned, in principle, the proposal didn’t move an inch, except a meeting by union minister of state for IT and communications, Killi Kruparani, in the first week of August at Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Centre cleared a proposal to set up ITIR in Hyderabad with projected investments of Rs 2.19 lakh crore over 20 years, which has fuelled dissent in Vizag, which is considered as next IT destination in the state, after Hyderabad.

“We have received the draft and planning to send the DPR to the concerned in a week or two. The proposals have to be sent to more than 15 various departments of the union government and planning commission. We are committed to send the proposals and get the approvals from all departments as soon as possible,” state IT minister, Ponnala Lakshmaiah told this correspondent.

It took almost close to 3 years for the Hyderabad’s ITIR approval after the state government had sent the proposals. However state IT department has entrusted the job of Vizag ITIR to a specific team to act swiftly and the team members are burning their midnight oil.

An ITIR requires 40 square kms of land which is approximately 10,000 acres. This requires 40percent processing –existing and proposed IT units- area and 60percent non processing area having-housing zones, green zones, supporting industries, education institutes, hospitals, hotels, sports area.

APIIC had earlier given details for 4000 acres for processing area including current SEZS at Duvvada and Rushikonda and proposed knowledge city at Kapuluppada in 1700acres.

The state IT department’s team is now busy collecting data on land, power, water and infrastructure availability for this project. The team had already visited city twice since October 1.   While APIIC and Vuda gave the details on available land, GVMC and EPDCL provided information about water and power resources respectively.

“State government has given the top priority for Vizag ITIR. We are working 20 times faster on Vizag ITIR than that on proposals and DPR for Hyderabad’s ITIR,” said a top official of state IT and Communications department.

However local IT entrepreneurs are not ready to bank entirely on the IT department. They are planning a meet and also workshop with the local IT business representatives very soon to discuss the ITIR, other problems faced by the IT sector in the city.

“We are planning a meet very soon in the city and also invite union minister of state for IT and communications Killi Kruparani to pursue Vizag ITIR,” said vice president of   Rushikonda IT Park Association (RITPA), and Vizag Development Council (VDC), O Naresh Kumar.