Chandigarh to set up 110-acre infotech park

The Chandigarh administration, which finalised its new information technology policy, has decided to set up an infotech park.

Several infotech giants were in the fray to get space in the 110 acre Chandigarh Information Technology Park, said Vivek Atrey, information technology director of the Chandigarh administration.

According to the plan, there will be two anchor campuses in the park. While one of the anchor, Infosys, has been allotted 20 acres of land, the name of other anchor is likely to be decided soon.

The rest of the area has been divided into four sub-anchor campuses, three ready-built spaces, four built-to-suit areas and one retail section and a club.

About 30,000 sq ft of high quality built space is likely to be ready by 2004.

The Singapore-based $1 billion company eSys has applied for three acres of land to set up a call centre and a hardware assembly unit in the park. The Noida-based ITIL, a CMM level- 5 company, has applied for 10 acres of land for its software development project.

GE Capital has announced Chandigarh as one of its centre for next location. ST Microelectronics has submitted expression of interest for setting up a data centre and a back-end software centre in the park. Hughes and Convergys has also decided to set up business process outsourcing operations in Chandigarh.

A company with a minimum annual turnover of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) and a CMM level of 4 or 5 will be eligible for the sub-anchor category.

Of the 22 expressions of interest received for the sub-anchor category, the administration had short listed seven. But only three would qualify for the final selection, said Atrey.

About 600,000 sq ft area will be developed as ready-built spaces in the park. L&T is likely to be given the contract to develop ready-built spaces. Large companies will have develop their own space.

Software Technology Park of India, Mohali, will provide the connectivity for the park.