more-in Social infrastructure coupled with the landing of South Africa-Far East (SAFE) optic-fibre submarine cable ensuring greater bandwidth makes Kochi a perfect destination capable of attracting marquee Information Technology companies to its shores, observes Hrishikesh Nair, CEO of Kerala IT Parks. In fact, he goes on to say that if at all global players were to set shop in Kerala, it will most probably be in Kochi rather than in Thiruvananthapuram or Kozhikode. “The second phase of Infopark focuses on offering social infrastructure within the park. No other park has facilities like walk-to-work township, schools or hospitals,” Mr. Nair said. Reminding how the draft IT Policy of the State government attaches much importance to social infrastructure in rating a destination’s capacity to woo in big players, he said Kochi with its superior social connectivity need not worry on that count. “Anyway, an IT park cannot offer all social infrastructure, which is the responsibility of civic agencies concerned and the government. Consolidation of IT parks under a single umbrella of Kerala IT will not in anyway destroy the brand value of individual parks like Infopark. Technopark and Infopark are very solid brands, and we got to leverage them to the hilt,” Mr. Nair added. A third phase for Infopark is a fair distance away. Though Infopark has allocated almost the entire land under its disposal, only around 20 to 30% of infrastructure development has been completed so far. It is too early to think of an own building of Infopark in the second phase as nine floors need to get filled up. The focus will be on getting co-developers to invest rather than on government spending. Initially, the government needed to invest to take the lead in developing infrastructure and generating investor confidence to invest, which is not the case now. Elaborating on the demand for small IT space for budding companies, Mr. Nair said Infopark continued to cater to that demand and the fit-out of 35,000 sq ft on the second floor of ‘Jyothiramaya’ by December was a step in this direction.

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