A final approval has been sought by the State IT (Information and Technology) Department from the Union Ministry of Communications and IT for development of an IT investment region (ITIR) in Bhubaneswar.
The ITIR would be developed in an area of 41.32 sqkm (10,210 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khordha. Out of the total land, there would be a processing area of 4,300 acres, which would house IT/ITes (enabled services), electronics hardware manufacturing (EHM) and research and development (R&D) centres.
The State Government had submitted a detailed project report (DPR) to the Union Government’s Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITY) way back on April 13, 2010 for setting up of the ITIR.
The State Government’s DPR was cleared at a meeting of a high-power committee under the chairmanship of the Centre’s Cabinet Secretary on July 6, 2012.
All necessary clarifications regarding power transmission infrastructure in this ITIR, to be borne by the State Government, have already been sent to DeITY on January 27, 2014.
But the approval from the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is to be received, State IT Department sources said. State IT Minister Pranab Prakash Das has written to Union Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad for an early approval of the ITIR project by the DeITY.
In an earlier letter this year, the State Government had informed the Centre that it would spend Rs 351.12 crore for the required power transmission infrastructure for the proposed ITIR.
The total ITIR project cost is around Rs 3,700 crore, out of which the Centre would provide Rs 1,750 crore towards setting up of external linkages. The IT hub is projected to generate job opportunities for 2.30 lakh people in the IT/ITes and electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sectors.
The Centre has recently accorded in-principle approval for setting up of an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) under the EMCs scheme in the State. The DeITY has sanctioned Rs 96.96 crore grant for this cluster to be developed on 215.76 acres of land.