Foundation laid for Kerala Smart city

The laying of foundation stone for the Rs 1700 crore (Rs 17 billion) Smart city project, a joint venture between the Kerala Government and Dubai's TECOM Investments, was held at a function in Kochi on Friday.

Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and TECOM Executive Director, Fareed Abdul Rehaman, jointly laid the foundation stone at a function held at Edachira in nearby Kakkanad.

Chairman of TECOM and SmartCity, Dubai, Ahmed Bin Byat, who was to participate in the function, could not make it and his speech was read out by Fareed Abdul Rehaman.

In his inaugural address, the chief minister said the project was being started with a lot of expectations as it is expected provide huge employment opportunities.

Kochi, Kerala's commercial hub, needs to improve upon its basic infrastructure facilities. The city was already facing severe traffic bottlenecks and problems relating to inadequate garbage disposal facilities. Within three years, as the city develops further, these problems would become more severe, he said.

The government had received several proposals to provide better infrastructure facilities at Kochi, Kerala's commercial capital, he said.

Though the chief minister did not mention any particular project, Sky City and Metro railway proposals are among those pending before the government.

The chief minister also thanked the people whose land was acquired for the project and the government officials who completed the acquisition proceedings in a time-bound manner.