By Ettech Last Updated

Copyright indiatimes

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday announced a large-scale expansion of the Infopark facility in Kochi with the proposed addition of a phase three on a plot of 300 acres, positioning it as a futuristic artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled Tech City.He also announced plans for phase four. With that, Vijayan said, Kerala was poised to emerge as a leading hub in India’s IT ecosystem.Infopark phase three will have 20 million sq ft of IT space and about 5,000 residential units. Once fully functional, the facility will add about 200,000 direct jobs in the IT/GCC sector, Infopark CEO Susanth Kurunthil told ET. Currently, the Infopark is spread over 231 acres across two phases in Kakkanad, and all tech hubs in Kochi together are estimated to employ over 120,000 people.Infopark is an arm of the Kerala government under the information technology department, with the chief minister as its chairman. Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode also have similar hubs called Technopark and Cyberpark, in that order, with a bustling tech ecosystem.Though the government has identified 300 acres, officials are confident it will eventually go up to 500 acres once the project begins. “The land pooling process and master planning will be completed in one year, and the project will kick off after that,” the CEO said.Phase three of the Infopark will feature modern IT office spaces, residences, schools, universities, healthcare, and recreational centres. “It’s designed to be a fully technology-enabled urban environment, where intelligent systems manage all aspects of city operations and every amenity is provisioned through smart technology,” Kurunthil added.The Infopark will develop the project through a land pooling process in collaboration with the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA). The city will be carbon-negative, water-positive, zero-waste, accessible, and inclusive, the CEO said. The project is expected to take three to four years for completion.Alongside, the government is also developing the Infopark’s phase four campus. “We are in the final stages of acquiring a 34-acre plot from Traco Cable Company Ltd to establish a new hub that will host five million sq ft of IT space and numerous retail and commercial establishments,” Kurunthil said.