KOCHI: To bridge the gap between Tecom officials and the state government the first round of talks for the ambitious Smart City project will be held at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.Tecom officials will meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Information Technology Minister P K Kunhalikutty and other officials to discuss on how the project can be implemented. Though former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan was able to sign an agreement with Tecom, the initial work is yet to start.According to sources, Norka Roots vice-chairman has taken the initiative for the first round of talks with the UDF Government. The discussion will focus on the present status of the project, financial status of Tecom and the agreement signed with the former government.As per the agreement signed with Tecom, a free hold is given for 12 percent of the property after the completion of the master plan. Though it was agreed to prepare the master plan for the project by the end of March this year, Tecom officials are yet to announce it. The meeting may explore the possibilities of extending the lease period from 99 years. The other areas to be focused are the clauses that at least 70 per cent of the land should be used for IT-related purposes, 8,88,207 sq ft for building construction, land can be sub-leased to other companies, all important decisions must be done with the approval of the government representatives in the director board, agreement will be void if the lease agreement terms or framework agreement terms are violated and if the construction is not completed within the notice period, government can take over the Smart City shares.Sources said that all terms and conditions put forward by Tecom is being looked into and a final decision will be taken after a detailed discussion. Oommen Chandy had already made it clear that some of the conditions in the agreement are not in favour of the state and it seems that a change in agreement will happen soon.However, the delay in reconstituting the director board of Smart City will adversely affect the activities of the project. With the UDF Government led by Oommen Chandy coming to power in May, S Sarma, chairman of Smart City, Kochi, and IT Secretary Suresh Kumar who was one of the directors, had resigned. But they are yet to be replaced.
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