[Sathyalal]

Thiruvananthapuram, March 5: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Kerala government Monday said it would soon set up a Technocity here, a project it had opposed when in the opposition.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan informed the Kerala Assembly that the Technocity would come up near the Technopark campus.

An attempt of the previous Oommen Chandy government to give a push to the project failed at the outset when the youth wing of the CPI-M, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), went on a rampage during a meeting called to discuss the Rs.50 billion Technocity campus. The project was shelved thereafter.

Achuthanandan Monday told the assembly that the master plan for Technocity was ready and the project would come up in an area of 507 acres.
"This has been taken up in the fast-track project and when completed it would provide 100,000 jobs directly and 300,000 jobs indirectly," said Achuthanandan.

In the proposed Technocity, IT, bio-technology companies, residential complexes and schools are planned.