The foundation stone for the fourth Software Technology Park was laid here in the Industrial Estate at Bampada near Remuna by local MP and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena.
State Employment and Technical Education and Programme Implementation Minister Pratap Keshari Deb, local MlA Sudarhsan Jena, Jaleswar MlA Debiprasanna Chand, Soro MlA Surendra Parmanik, district Collector Arvind Agarwal,
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Director General Dr Omkar Rai, State Commissioner-cum-Secretary (IT) Sanjeeb Mishra and other STPI officials were present.
Addressing the gathering, Minister Jena said, “There is ample of opportunities for the IT centre here to grow which can transform the area into another Silicon Valley. The centre will create a lot of employments in the region, besides bringing huge export scope.”
Jena informed that the centre would come up over 3 acres of land and State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) would develop it at an initial grant of Rs 1 crore. The building would be built on an area of 20,000 square feet of which the State would bear half the expenditure, he said.
Minster Deb said Odisha could be at par with Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad as there is no scope for growth in these cities because saturation. “The State has allocated 2 per cent of its budget for IT the sector development after having prepared a fresh IT policy in 2013-14. The centre can reap the benefit of export as it is hundred per cent export oriented,” he said.
The park will be established adjacent to the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET). Earlier three parks have been established in Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Brahmapur. Besides this is the 54th park in India.
When operational, it would act as a resource centre for IT and ITES exporting industries offering general infrastructural facilities like ready use incubation, high speed data communication with reliable and uninterrupted data connectivity and other amenities required for export purpose. The other prime objectives of the park are to make the region one of the preferred IT destinations and attracting IT units, promoting IT software and services and contributing to gross national export, providing high speed data communication and other value added services, providing statutory services for software technology park and electronics hardware technology park scheme and ensuring overall economic development in the region, said sources.