Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

In what could be the turning point for Goa's sagging IT industry, soft ware giant Wipro has shown in terest in setting up a campus facility in Goa. This could be the first major IT investment this state has seen in the last several years. The other major IT companies operating in the state are Tata Infotech, D-Link, Zenith and ControlNet. IT minister Francisco D'Souza said that a 50-acre plot of land, earmarked for the non-happening Hi-Tech Habitat project at Dona Paula Plateau, has been taken over for this purpose by the government from the Goa-based Infotech Corporation. It is learnt that the government has offered a major chunk of this land to Wipro, while a three-acre plot would be handed over to the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) to set up infrastructure facilities for IT firms. Conceived a few years ago, the Hi-Tech habitat project could not get off the ground due to lack of takers from the private sector though bids were invited a numbers of times in the past for the development of this land into an IT Park.

A JV was signed between a Gujarat-based company, Creative IT Inc, and the Goa government for the implementation of the Hi-Tech Habitat project. However, it was cancelled as the party "did not fulfill the terms and condition of the Letter of Intent."

NO TAKERS: This 50-acre plot of prime land at Dona Paula plateau in Panaji, earmarked for the Hi-Tech Habitat project, is now being used as a pre-fabrication site for the ongoing construction work for the International Film Festival of India

The InfoTech Corporation of Goa had, in its latest move, initiated moves to appoint an experienced consultant for handling the proposal "in a professional manner". The land had been neglected so much that a number of encroachments had already taken place on this piece of prime property, which faces the Arabian Sea.

The proposed STP promises are to be home to national and international companies that want the best of both worlds-Goa's promise of fun-filled life and Mumbai's business potential. "We are in talks with Infosys and Wirpo about hosting their BPO operations," said Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa. Parrikar further said that the state's IT policy was almost in its final stages and would be released within three months. According to him, the government has also set up an Information Technology Corporation for the development of IT-related infrastructure, IT enabled services, and the implementation of e-governance objectives in Goa.

Page(s)   1