STPI gets land for Balasore centre

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has taken possession of the required land for setting up a new centre at Balasore.

"We have taken possession of three acres of land identified at Bampada industrial area in Balasore from Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco). The memorandum of understanding with the state government on the STPI centre is likely to be signed after the urban polls," said a STPI official.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) had proposed to set up a STPI unit in Balasore. If established, the Balasore STPI centre will be fourth one in the state after Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Berhampur.

Officials of STPI visited the Balasore recently to take possession of the land, the official added.

A joint inspection team comprising of officials from Idco, STPI-Bhubaneswar, and state IT department had visited the district earlier and earmarked a three acre patch for the project.

For setting up the centre at the coastal town, the state government is required to provide 10,000 square feet built up space , three acres of land and Rs one crore as grant in aid as state's contribution.

The state government had already allocated Rs 3 crore (Rs 1 crore as state's contribution and Rs 2 crore for additional infrastructure) in the state's budget for 2012-13.

It may be noted that exports by the IT units registered with the STPI in Odisha stood at Rs 1,710 crore for 2012-13. STPI is an autonomous society under Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology set up for promotion of software exports from the country.