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Italian consortium to set up India's biggest business centre in Communist-led Kerala

George Iype in Kochi

The Kerala Communists' aversion to foreign investment in business and infrastructure projects has become a thing of the past.

The Left Democratic Front government has awarded the country's biggest business centre and tower project to Feder Italia Export-Import, an Italian business consortium.

To be built in 300 acres of land in Kochi, the Rs 12 billion Indo-Italian tower project will be Italy's largest investment in India.

The World Italian Towers Network Association, an FIEI affiliate in charge of the mega project in Kerala, has already signed up reputed architect Micheal A Lack for designing the Kochi business centre.

Soon after the Kochi project completes, the FIEI and WITNA will consider building similar projects in Bombay and New Delhi.

WITNA officials said Kochi tower and business centre will be the headquarters of Italy's trade and business operations in South Asia.

The tower project to be constructed in an area of 120,000 square metres will consist of an export-import business school of international standards, an industrial park, a helipad with tie-ups with nearest airports and different centres for business, telecommunications and cultural activities. There will be a number of leisure centres including theatres, pizza joints and health clubs offering Kerala's specialities.

The memorandum of understanding between the FIEI and the Kerala government for the Kochi project was signed in November last year. Earlier, top FIEI officials had extensively toured the state on an invitation from Chief Minister E K Nayanar.

Although the Communist Party of India Marxist, the main partner of Nayanar government, initially opposed a foreign venture for a tower project, a group of Non Resident Indian businessmen settled in Italy managed to convince the CPI-M on the need for a business centre for the state.

They argued that now that Kerala has a world standard international airport after the inauguration of the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery, some 25 kilometers away from the city, a massive business centre will considerably help in wooing more foreign investment to the state. The Kochi tower project will be located in Kalamassery, on the route to the new airport.

But the Kerala-Italian venture went into a limbo, as the state government could not take over the land that the Italian business consortium had fancied on the outskirts of Kochi. The land was held up in a long-drawn up litigation between the Kerala government and the Hindustan Machine Tools.

However, the government won the litigation last week and reclaimed 300 acres of land from HMT in Kalamassery. The government has also intimated the Italian business group that the land for the proposed tower project has been earmarked.

Business news

Kerala