K'taka plans integrated IT city near intl airport

The Karnataka government plans to build an integrated IT city near the Bangalore international airport to attract more investments in the knowledge sector, state governor H R Bhardwaj said recently.

“We have initiated measures to build an integrated IT city near the airport at

Devanahalli, about 35 km from the city, based on the Centre’s guidelines to create an IT investment region,” Bhardwaj said in his address to the joint session of the state legislature.

Outlining the state’s plans for industrial development for the ensuing fiscal (2010-11), the governor said the government had approved proposals to set up 76 large and mega industries across the state with the potential to create about 320,000 jobs.

“The government will develop industrial corridors and link them up with core sectors like cement, steel, textiles, information technology, biotechnology, automobiles and pharma. In line with the new industrial policy, additional incentives will be provided to backward districts,” Bhardwaj said.

The 2009 industrial policy offers a slew of incentives, including interest-free loan on VAT (value added tax), anchor unit subsidy, interest subsidy and incentives for energy and water conservation.

The governor also noted the IT industry’s overwhelming response to the government scheme to set up rural BPO (business process outsourcing) centres to create jobs and check migration to urban areas.

Sector-specific BT parks will be located in Mysore, Mangalore, Dharwad and Bidar to decongest Bangalore and attract investments across the state for socio-economic development of the region and create employment opportunities, he noted.

Reiterating the state government’s commitment to build infrastructure across the state, the governor said to improve air connectivity, plans had been drawn up to develop airports in Shimoga, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Hassan on the PPP (public-private partnership) model for providing feeder service.

Stressing on quality road network for overall development, the governor said the World Bank had cleared tendering for upgrading 826 km of roads for an estimated cost of Rs 1,650 crore under the Karnataka state highway improvement project-2.