Power lines in ITIR to cost Rs 351 cr

The state government would spend Rs 351.12 crore for the required power transmission infrastructure for the proposed Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in the state.

The amount has been made available to the state energy department under the state budget.

"I am to intimate that the required power transmission infrastructure for the ITIR near Bhubaneswar has already been planned under state budget for which an investment of Rs 351.12 crore has been made available to the energy department, Government of Odisha," former IT secretary Madhusudan Padhi wrote to the secretary, Union ministry of Communication and IT.

Sources said, the letter follows the clarification sought by the Centre on provisions for the power infrastructure investment by the state government from its own coffers.

Officials said, the intimation to the Centre of meeting the required expenditure for power infrastructure from the state budget may fast track the process of getting the nod for establishment of ITIR.

The ITIR is to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda at an estimated investment of Rs 17,883 crore.

The region would generate jobs for 0.23 million people and accommodate a population of around 0.54 million. More than 75 per cent of the investment will be made on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

The Centre has already given its in-principle approval to the project. Sources said, establishment of ITIR will help the state in attracting foreign direct investments in the sector. Similar ITIRs are planned in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka which have already been cleared by the Centre. In the final project report on the ITIR, IL&FS-IDC had included among other things, an airport, a global IT training centre, a bio-tech park and a science city spread over 350 acres.