In a big boost to the IT sector, the State Cabinet on 28 January 2010 approved setting up of an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) spread over 10,000 acres with an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore near Bangalore International Airport.

The ITIR, which is a Central project, seeks to create nearly 12 lakh jobs in IT and IT-enabled services. It will be developed jointly by the State and Central gvernments under the public-private-partnership model, Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

The ambitious project will be located 15 kilometres from the BIA. The Centre will provide infrastructure support like roads, railway lines and telecom, besides extending the viability gap funding.

On its part, the State government will acquire land and find a private partner to invest in the project. All concessions will be extended to the developer in accordance with the State government's IT policy. The developer will be identified through an open bid selection. It is learnt that the Cabinet also decided to bring the entire 10,000 acres for the proposed ITIR under the jurisdiction of Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority.

A separate legislation, a long-standing demand of the IT industry, will be enacted to govern the proposed ITIR area.

It was decided to appoint State-owned Keonics as the nodal agency and the IT and BT departments as the nodal departments for the project.

Source: DHNS