Playing the Smart Card ; Once a Bitter Opponent of the Smart City Project, the Ldf Government Is Now Determined to Implement It On Its Own Terms and has Got the Dubai-Based Backers to Agree to Most of Its Conditions

Summary

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It is a project that the Left Democratic Front (LDF), when in the Opposition in 2003, had termed "the biggest real estate racket in the state". V.S. Achuthanandan, then the leader of the Opposition, had even threatened that if and when the LDF came to power, he would "put all the backers of the project behind bars".

Now the chief minister of Kerala, Achuthanandan and his party have come a long way since then. The ruling CPI(M), once the most bitter opponent of the Rs 2,200-crore Smart City project, is now pursuing it with a zeal that would make any hard-nosed businessman green with envy. Although uncertainty marks the project in Kochi proposed by Dubai's Technology and Media Free Zone Authority (TECOM) even after two-and-a-half years, the LDF Government now appears determined to implement it-on its own terms. It has managed to get TECOM, who are also promoters of the high-tech 246-acre Dubai Internet City, to accept most of its conditions (see box).

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Playing the Smart Card ; Once a Bitter Opponent of the Smart City Project, the Ldf Government Is Now Determined to Implement It On Its Own Terms and has Got the Dubai-Based Backers to Agree to Most of Its Conditions

But there's still one hitch: TECOM wants ownership of the land at the end of the 25-year lease period while the Government wants the land for itself. Before returning to Dubai last week, TECOM representatives said, "We have accepted all the other...

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