JOIN USKIADB to raise Rs 1,000-crore loan to acquire land for ITIR project
The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) will raise a loan of Rs 1,000 crore for acquiring land for the Phase I of the Centre-sponsored Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIR) near Bengaluru International Airport (BIA).
Announcing this in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Information Technology Minister S R Patil said the government is committed to implement the prestigious ITIR project which would create not less than 40 lakh jobs over a period of two decades. He was replying to questions in this regard by Hebbal MLA R Jagadeesh Kumar (BJP) who wanted to know the status of land acquisition.
The minister said that Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keonics) had spent Rs 20 crore for land acquisition. But it has no money to spend more. Hence, KIADB would raise the loan, he added, while not stating who would stand guarantee for the loan to be raised.
Kumar said that Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M Veerappa Moily, MP from Chikkaballapur, had opposed land acquisition in two villages in Devanahali taluk for the ITIR project. Some years ago he had written to the chief minister to stop land acquisition.
“Will the Centre be sanctioning Rs 12,500 crore for the ITIR project? Only preliminary notification for 2,072 acres of land has been issued, while the actual acquisition has not been done. The government will have to acquire another 7,500 acres. By the time the government acquires land, there could be many hurdles including protest from farmers over parting with their land,” he said.
Final notification
The minister said that a final notification for acquiring about 2,072 acres would be issued at the earliest. And, the rest of the land would be acquired in the Phase II.
The Phase I would have to be completed before 2020 and, the phase II from 2020 to 2032. The land acquisition for the Phase II will begin only after the completion of the Phase I. If land is notified for the Phase II now itself, then no development can take place. In the Phase I, as the land is already notified, no development activities are allowed, he added.
The greenfield ITIR is coming up on 10,500 acres spread across 40 sq km. As many as 32 villages have been identified in Devanahalli and Doddaballapur taluks for the project.