Rs 1,000-cr loan to be raised for ITIR land acquisition

A loan of Rs 1,000 crore would be raised to acquire land for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project here, Karnataka Information Technology Minister SR Patil said today.

Patil told the Legislative Assembly that a notification has been issued to acquire 2,072 acres for the project for which the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) is raising the funds.

The project is to come up near the Bengaluru International Airport.

ITIR is to be spread over a 40 sq.km area with plans for the acquisition of a total 10,500 acres in the Devanahalli and Doddarballapur taluks. The project is proposed to be taken up in two phases — from 2012 to 2020, and from 2020 to 2032.

Once the acquisition process gathers pace, the government intends to develop the remaining 7,500-plus acres needed for the mega project in association with private parties.

"We will not acquire this land (7500-plus acres). We will develop it through developers," Patil said in response to a question from Jagadeesh Kumar R of BJP who raised the issue during question hour.

The Union Cabinet had approved the greenfield project on June 4 last.

ITIR is a joint initiative by the Union and state governments to attract investments in the Information Technology, Information Technology Enabled Services and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing space.

It would be an integrated IT township with world-class facilities and feature residential, social, educational and health infrastructure, officials said.

The project is expected to generate 12 lakh direct jobs and offer indirect employment to 28 lakh, Patil said.

Officials said total investment is expected to be USD 20 billion by the year 2030.

Kumar expressed fears that delay in acquiring the 7,500-plus acres would make matters complicated as many houses and buildings would come up in those areas and the state may even lose the project.

But Patil said that the state government was totally committed to the project and would not allow it to be shifted out of Karnataka.