Achuthanandan succeeds in throwing Smart City out :
State Government pretends to be indecisive about Smart City

Since his ascend to power as the Chief Minister of Kerala, V.S. Achuthanandan seemed to have taken a vow that the Smart City project would not take wing under his tenure. Continuously monitoring the proceedings of the Smart City project and sabotaging the possibility of any new developments, it finally looks like the Chief Minister has
succeeded. Today's cabinet meeting proves beyond a doubt that Achuthanadan will slowly but gradually throw the Smart City out of Kerala state.

With 3 years being completed since the State Government first talked about Smart City, no decision is still being arrived at, regarding the initiation of the project. Even today’s meeting meant to bring an element of finality to all the issues pending in the State Government’s knapsack, was not able to bring the political parties to a consensus regarding the Smart City project.

Following the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan stated that the promoters of the Smart City project, TECOM have dragged into the picture demands which were not a part of the initial agreement and thus are creating rifts between the State Government and the company. The State Government believes that the recent global recession has affected the Dubai based TECOM Investments and their ability to proceed with the next steps in implementing the Smart City project.

TECOM Investments had earlier commented that the communicative letters they had received from the State Government regarding the Smart City had been demeaning in every sense. TECOM had stated that the letters sent by the State Government post the cabinet meeting in September, had put forth demands falling out of the purview of the earlier agreement on the Smart City project. TECOM had suggested that the State Government can either proceed as agreed earlier or be prepared for arbitration. These points had been explicitly stated in a letter sent by TECOM addressed to the Chief Secretary of State, P. Prabhakaran.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan stated after the meeting today that the Infopark, Kochi which is expected to generate 1.5 lakh jobs this year will not be grouped under the Smart City project. The Chief Minister blamed TECOM for their relaxed attitude and their incapability in delivering even a single building as per the project plan. The TECOM Smart City project was expected to generate close to a lakh jobs in the employment sector of Kerala. A final decision regarding the Smart City project is still awaited.

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