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World's largest cyber city coming up near Madras

Shobha Warrier in Madras

In less than a month, the world's largest cyber city will come up in the 'cyber corridor' in Tamil Nadu, about 30 kms from Madras.

The ambitious project is being developed by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd -- or SIPCOT -- on 2,000 acres of land in Siruseri, on the old Mahabalipuram Road. The Madras-Mahabalipuram section of the East Coast Road is being developed into a four-lane highway to be called the 'IT Highway'.

The ambitious Cyber City will be yet another feather in Tamil Nadu's cap, after the World Bank thought it fit to choose Madras as the hub for its back-office operations.

In July 2000, when TIDEL Park was inaugurated, nobody expected the entire 1.28 million sq ft built up area of the park to get filled up in just three months. But that is exactly what happened. The response was so tremendous that the state is planning another TIDEL Park now: TIDEL Park -2. But the success of TIDEL Park has nothing to do with the idea of having a Cyber City in the state, says K Deenabandhu, SIPCOT managing director.

"As far as I know, no IT park of this size exists. So, once it is ready, this will be the largest in the world," said Deenabandhu.

"We had planned this Cyber City a long time back. The concept of TIDEL Park and Siruseri Cyber City are different. We constructed TIDEL Park and gave the space to various companies, but we are going to allot land to various companies in Siruseri," he says.

In Phase-I, SIPCOT is planning to develop 1,000 acres of land that it has acquired from the government, and in the Phase-II, another 1,000 acres of land will be developed.

The idea to acquire another 1,000 acres of land came when SIPCOT found that the initial response to the idea of a Cyber City was very enthusiastic. SIPCOT is still in the process of taking over the government land so that it can allot the land to various companies.

"The response from all the major IT companies in India has been very good. We have also received enquiries from Singapore, Malaysia, etc., but the majority of the enquiries have come from within India. The first allotment of land will take place next month," K Deenabandhu told rediff.com.

The Cyber City will be a self-contained township with all the facilities that are needed to run IT companies, and also recreational facilities for those who work there.

SIPCOT has already started a Rs 800-million development project for road laying, ensuring water supply and developing underground drainage. Other facilities needed for an IT park like uninterrupted power supply, dedicated telephone exchanges and earth stations for high-speed data communication and image transmission will be provided by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Software Technology Parks of India, etc.

Deenabandhu informed that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has agreed to put an exclusive exchange for the Cyber City. SIPCOT has already allotted land for BSNL, VSNL and STPI and it will soon start laying an optic fibre network across the entire 2,000 acres so that a service provider need to just give an ISDN connection to an IT company using the infrastructure.

The Siruseri Cyber City promises to have indoor and outdoor recreational facilities inside the township and they include a lush green golf course covering an area of 200 acres -- which SIPCOT plans to develop as a joint venture - a country club with indoor games, mini auditorium, open air theatre, etc.

SIPCOT also plans to develop the existing lake in the area for water sports. The Cyber city will have hotels, restaurants, crèches, educational and technical institutions, first aid centers and hospitals for the residents.

There will be a link between world-renowned institutions and industry in India, so that there can be an exchange of ideas on the industrial use of science and IT.

This project will also provide industry with an access to scientists from various disciplines so that a talent bank, which may not be affordable to individual industries, can be created.

Added incentives offered by SIPCOT are special subsidies for electronics hardware industry of up to 20 per cent of the fixed assets, subject to a maximum of Rs 2 million, no entry tax or purchase tax for IT industries, unrestricted movement of capital equipments required for the IT industry, special subsidy of Rs 2.5 million for industries having an investment between Rs 5 million and Rs 10million, Rs 5 million for an investment of Rs 10-20 million, and Rs 10 million for an investment of above Rs 20 million.

When fully completed over the next 4-5 years, this Cyber City will definitely be the place to be, SIPCOT hopes.

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