IT investment region of Visakhapatnam caught in red tape
ITIR proposal was sent to the Centre in mid-2014.
Visakhapatnam: Uncertainty looms over the proposed IT Investment Region (ITIR) project, for Vizag, for which the state government has already submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Union government long ago.
Vizag’s ITIR proposal was sent to the Centre, mid-2014. ITIR for Vizag has been pending since more than four years. Recently during his visit to Vizag, Union IT and Communications minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Centre had kept the ITIR proposals from the states on hold as the ITIR policy itself is being reviewed.
He said the Centre would consider AP’s request on ITIR, positively as and when the new revised policy gets ready.
The proposal to develop ITIR, at Vizag, was okayed in principle in Aug 2013 during the UPA II regime. It was at the time when separate state agitation was at its peak and there was a dissent in this region that development was concentrated in and around Hyderabad. ITIR was sanctioned by the UPA government for Vizag also, besides to the capital city Hyderabad.
The ITIR is expected to attract global investments in IT and ITES sectors besides providing employment to local youth.
An ITIR requires 40 square km of land which is approximately 10,000 acres. This requires 40 percent processing — existing and proposed IT units— area and 60 percent non- processing area having housing zones, green zones, supporting industries, education institutes, hospitals, hotels, and sports area.
The detailed project report for the ITIR at Vizag was done by Ernst & Young with 4,074 acres of processing and 5,905 acres of non-processing area and investments projected are '60,000 crore. Around '5,000 crore needs to be pumped in to develop required infrastructure for Vizag ITIR.
“When the Odisha government sent its ITIR proposal to the Union Cabinet it was kept on hold as we decided to revisit the ITIR policy itself. As and when we review the present ITI policy and finalise the new one we will definitely consider AP’s ITIR proposal,” assured Ravi Shankar Prasad.