Thiruvananthapuram, May 20 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Wednesday said the global economic slowdown may delay the launch of Kochi’s Rs.15 billion Smart City project.
The proposed project, to be jointly launched by the state government and the Dubai-based infrastructure major Smart City, is slated to come up on a 246-acre plot with 8.8 million square feet of built-up space, of which 70 percent is earmarked for IT and IT-enabled services.

Achuthanandan said Smart City Dubai may not have the required funds because of the financial crunch, alleging that the infrastructure major was making “undeserving demands”.

He, however, did not elaborate on what the demands were.

“The talks with them will continue and we have a feeling that they are having problem of funds,” the chief minister said.