Kochi: Within a month of the Kerala government and Smart City Dubai resolving their differences over Smart City Kochi, the much-delayed Rs15 billion (Dh1.21 billion) infotech project took another step forward with the lease agreement being registered here on Wednesday.
The first board meeting, being held here after the inking of the memorandum of agreement between the two sides, approved the lease agreement and cleared the way to get the registration process completed at a sub-registrar office near the city with clear cut guidelines that at no cost should the land be sold.
It was more than three years ago that the foundation stone for the project was laid.
Since then, work has been held up over the issue of granting 12 per cent freehold rights to the builders outside of the 246 acres of the proposed project site.
The Dubai team was led by Abdul Latif Al Mulla, Tecom chief executive officer, and the Kerala team by state Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, who is also the chairman of the Smart City Kochi project.
Master plan
Al Mulla told reporters that the preliminary draft of the master plan for the project was ready.
"When the next board meets, the final of the master plan would be ready and we are certain that we will be able to start work on the project at the earliest," he said.
The deadlock between the Kerala government and Smart City Dubai over the proposed project ended on February 2, following talks between Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and UAE government representative Ahmad Humaid Al Tayer, who is also the Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre.
Land status
The two parties had also signed a nine-point agreement which touched upon all the contentious issues with regards to ownership and freehold rights.
Wednesday's meeting was based on this agreement.
"Currently, of the 246 acres of land, only 136 acres have got the special economic zone status and our official will be leaving to Delhi to speed up the process for getting the same status for the reminder of the land," said Sarma.
Yousuf Ali MA, the chairman of the Emke Group in the UAE, who brokered the deal after being appointed the representative of the state government to negotiate with the UAE Government, was also present on Wednesday when the lease agreement was registered.
