Kerala’s first waterfront IT campus opens in Infopark

Kochi, Jan 22 (IANS) Kerala's first waterfront IT campus opened at the Infopark campus at Kochi on Sunday.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan officially launched 'Jyothirmaya', a 5.5 lakh sq.ft. building on the 160-acre park campus.

Set in idyllic settings, the building overlooks the Kadamrayar River. Those coming to work here can arrive on boats now.

"We have a boat jetty. At the moment, the boat service is only for 1.5 kms from our campus. We expect the remaining portion to be completed soon," IT Parks Kerala CEO, Hrishikesh Nair told IANS.

In the new building, with an area of 400,000 sq.ft., IT building is expected to provide jobs to over 4,000 IT professionals.

The building has parking facility and space for other commercial activities such as banks, ATMs and food courts.

Some 15 companies have already taken up space in the new building.

"Foreseeing the scope of development around Kadamprayar River, I feel it is necessary to include Kadamprayar River in the government's HarithaKeralam' scheme. The natural beauty and the environment around this river needs to be maintained effectively in the wake of development," said Vijayan in his inaugural address.

The second phase of Infopark is expected to be completed by 2022.

"The campus with water frontage to Kadamprayar river will have a total built-up area of eight million sq.ft when it is fully operational with direct employment opportunities to 80, 000 IT professionals," said M Sivasankar, IT Secretary in the state government.