John M. Thomas, CEO of Kerala IT parks, told the media on the occasion of the opening of a new Cognizant facility at Infopark that the proposed locations are close to the airport and NH66.

The state government had already proposed four IT corridors running parallel to the NH66, which is being expanded to four lanes. For the purpose of acquiring land for the parks, Rs. 1 billion has been set aside from the land acquisition pool of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board.

“Land availability is a major issue in Kochi. While allotting land, the government has to consider various factors. We have requested the government not to allot paddy fields as it would cause delay in making the project a reality,” he said.

In order to expedite the land allocation process, Infopark officials will also ask the government to call a high-level meeting in the near future. Only coordinated efforts from several ministries can prevent delays in land allocation.

The CEO claimed that Infopark had significant growth following the outbreak.

“The small and medium size IT companies on the campus have assisted infopark to grow tremendously. Along with this, Big IT companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions and IBM have also entered and have begun their expansion in Infopark. These development activities of Infopark will attract more IT companies to Kochi.” he said.

According to him, Infopark also intends to establish more modest space extension centres in the city.

“We are planning to open such centres near Metro stations. The locations would be finalized soon, “ he added.