Kerala's new IT park styled as 'water park'

17 Feb 2009, ET Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government has decided to put to full effect the state’s striking natural beauty while establishing its newest IT park at Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district, designing the park to resemble what could be termed the first water theme park of the IT industry.

The IT park at Ambalappuzha is part of the state government’s decision to have the IT infrastructure in the state more broad based by having IT parks in all districts as against the present concentration of the tech industry in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

The Ambalappuzha IT park, for which chief minister V S Achuthanandan laid the foundation stone this week, will function as a hub of the Kochi-based Infopark. The park has a 100-acre campus, of which a third has been granted special economic zone status, officials said.

Kerala IT secretary Ajay Kumar said the Ambalappuzha Infopark, and the Kollam Technopark which was initiated last week, signaled the beginning of the fruition of the state government’s long-standing dream of setting up IT parks all over the state.

He said work on the Ambalappuzha park would commence by April, starting with the establishment of facilities like windmills, reverse osmosis for treatment of brackish water and other facilities like educational/training institutions, marina, entertainment and retail IT services, health centers and residential apartments.

Infopark CEO Siddhartha Bhattacharya said the Ambalappuzha park, with its unique location at the popular backwater region of Alappuzha, would enable combined promotion of the IT and tourism sectors in the state, and could transform the location into an IT Venice of the East.

He said islands would be formed with interconnected roads and bridges, retaining the natural features, thereby creating an ambience conducive for a stress-free environment for professionals to work in.