Asia's biggest data centre to be set up in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg: Govt

Asia's biggest data centre would be set up in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra with an investment of Rs 50 billion, the state government said.

State Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal and Minister of State for Tourism Deepak Kesarkar made the announcement here following their meeting with Malta's Tourism and Cultural Minister Konrad Mizzi.

A private firm would make the investment, linking the proposed data centre in Sindhudurg to another located in Malta, they said.

"Asia's biggest data centre would be set up in Sindhudurg with an investment of Rs 50 billion. The data centre will be connected to another in Malta, laying underground cable in sea," Rawal told reporters.

The ministers also said that trials of flight operations at the Parule Chipi airport in Sindhudurg would be held in October this year, while an international flight would arrive there from Malta in December.

The European country is also set to host a festival of Indian films in December.

Rawal said the state government also signed an MoU with the Malta government for offering some courses to students at the Solapur hotel management institute.

On his part, Mizzi said that the government of his country was happy with the collaboration.

"We believe that in these areas we can work together to create a win-win (situation). Malta and India share a common heritage," he said.

The Maltese minister added that the government there collaborated with the Devendra Fadnavis-led dispensation to attract more Indian tourists to the European nation.

"We will be exploring more details of the flights. We will also see if Malta could offer the Indian diaspora cheaper route as well to come back to India without going to other hubs in other regions which should reduce the flight time as well," he said.

Meanwhile, Rawal said the government was in talks with two-three companies to launch battery-operated glass submarines in sea at Sindhudurg as announced in the budget for the current fiscal.