The State Government on Friday signed an MoU with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) of the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to set up a new software technology park at Bamapada Industrial Estate in Baleswar.
The fourth STPI center in the State after Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Brahmapur would be the 54th center in the country. It aims at facilitating and supporting the dynamic entrepreneurs of north Odisha to explore global opportunity in IT and IT enabled services exports, said the STPI director general Dr Omkar Rai.
Dr Rai signed the MoU with State IT Secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra at the State Secretariat.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Patnaik said that the State Government would provide 10,000 Sqft of built up space, three acre of land and Rs 1crore as grant in aid to the STPI for setting up the proposed center at Baleswar. The IDCO has already handed over the advance possession of three acre of land in Bamapada Industrial Estate, Baleswar to the STPI for the purpose, he said.
The Chief Minister said that special focus is being given in the upcoming ICT policy of State for promoting level-II cities like Baleswar for an uniform growth of IT and ITES sector. Stating that the IT sector has always been a priority of his Government and Odisha has been in the forefront of the IT revolution in the country, Patnaik praised the efforts of the STPI in playing a pivotal role in promoting the sector in the country and in the State in Particular.
Boasting the initiatives taken by his Government for synchronizing the vision for an all round development and growth of IT exports, Patnaik said that it was a matter of pride that IT export from the State was nearly Rs 2,000 crore during the year 2012-13 which is above the national average.
STPI Director General Rai said that an estimated Rs15 crore would be invested in the new STPI center and the incubation facility at the STPI, Baleswar will be available to Micro, Small and Medium entrepreneurs, which are in immediate need of high teach computing infrastructure to kick start their business.
The proposed center would act as a resource center for IT and ITES exporting units by offering general infrastructural facilities like ready to use incubation space, high speed data communication connectivity and other amenities required for development and export of software and services, he said.