SmartCity Kochi to raise Rs 4,000 Cr from investors

Kochi: SmartCity Kochi, a joint venture company of the Kerala government and Dubai Holding, has drawn up ambitious plans to raise an additional Rs 4,000 crore from potential investors for upcoming development phases.

The additional funds would be for Phase III, IV and V by activating infrastructure ready residential plots and by completing the balance infrastructure development in its township side, a SmartCity release said here Tuesday.

"The Phase III will witness residential, sports & recreation facilities and mixed-use developments in a land area covering 30 acres," said Manoj Nair, CEO, SmartCity Kochi.

"Phase IV and V planning is underway where we would invest an estimated Rs 200 crore to complete the remaining infrastructure to activate 45 acres of additional plots that could be offered to the investors for residential and social infrastructure projects," he added.

On the township side, GEMS Modern Academy, with an investment of Rs 102 crore, has commenced its operations with sports and other educational amenities expected to be completed by May of this year.

"With these three phases opening up, and subject to timely clearances and approval from the government of Kerala, we would create further investment opportunities of Rs 4,000 crore to promote developments in the township side of SmartCity Kochi.

"Of this, a confirmed expression of interest from a leading residential projects developer in South India is under process. The development entails residential project in an area covering 15.5 acres of land on a freehold basis with an investment of approximately Rs 1,200 crore," he said.

Construction work on the residential project is likely to commence during the last quarter of 2019 itself, subject to necessary clearances from the state government.

Work on remaining infrastructure development will be taken up in the last quarter of 2020.

Nair said the master plan of SmartCity Kochi has been updated and environmental study for the expansion is underway.

As per the framework agreement with the Kerala government, the base investment in SmartCity Kochi was estimated to be Rs 1,700 crore.

Overall, developments in SmartCity Kochi have so far resulted in an investment over Rs 2,600 crore.

"In terms of development of IT business infrastructure, further investments to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore could be attracted. The full build out investment potential of SmartCity Kochi is estimated to be Rs 9,000 crore," he said.

"To facilitate co-developments by investors, we have invested in the development of 7 kms of 4-lane roads with utility and services trenches, 33 KV sub-stations with power infrastructure, water storage and distribution infrastructure, and landscaping 

Work on water treatment plant is progressing as per schedule, he added.

Major businesses like Lulu Group International, Prestige Group, Maratt Group, Holiday Group and Schulte Group are the co-developers which have signed up to create IT business infrastructure projects.