Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 4 (IANS) Technopark officials here are finalising the master plan for the first district level IT park in Kerala, to come up at Kundara near Kollam.M. Vasudevan, a senior Technopark official, said the IT park would be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) policy of the state government.

“The formal inauguration will take place next month, when the foundation stone would be laid by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan. Forty acres of land is in our possession and the project will see IT infrastructure being developed by the Technopark and real estate developers,” Vasudevan told IANS.

“This would be a joint development project and in all there would be 1.5 million square feet of built-up area,” Vasudevan added.

In May last year, the state government announced that IT level parks would be developed under private-public partnership model in the 14 districts of the state.

In the first phase, IT parks would come up in Kollam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

Currently, IT companies operating in the state are based either at the Technopark campus here or in the Infopark campus in Kochi.

Nearly 150 companies are operating in the Technopark. They employ close to 20,000 people, while around 40 companies that employ nearly 8,000 people are in Infopark.

According to the government, the district level IT parks would help the IT industry expand operations across the state. Also, operating from the district parks would be cheaper for IT companies than functioning from Technopark or Infopark campuses.

“Kollam has certainly a lot of positives because a good number of educational institutions are there and also we propose to peg the rate per square feet at Kollam IT park around 30 percent cheaper than at the Technopark campus (where the rate is Rs.25 per square feet),” Vasudevan said.

“This could be a good place for those interested in BPO (business process outsourcing) operations,” he added.

The government would hold 51 percent stake in the district level parks and the rest will be with private and public companies, which would build the necessary infrastructure.