Odisha steps up effort to establish IIIT

The state government has stepped up efforts for establishment of a branch of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the state with assistance of the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry and a private partner.

The government is likely to submit a detailed project report (DPR) to the Centre in this regard by October end.

It may be noted, the state currently has its own brand of IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology), which is functioning over 23.5 acres of land at Gothpatna on the outskirts of the city.

In 2010, the Centre had proposed to set up 20 IIITs across the country on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with an outlay of Rs 2,808.71 crore (Rs 2,558.71 crore non recurring, Rs 200 crore recurring expenditure and Rs 50.00 crore for faculty development).

 

“As the project would be undertaken under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, we have floated tenders for expression of interest, eight private firms out of eleven have been selected . These firms are asked to make presentations before the technical subcommittee constituted for the purpose,” said an official source.

The private firms include city based Regional College of Management, S N Mohanty group, MITS group, International Panacea, consortium formed by Silicon engineering college, RSB group, PRDC and Shyam Metaliks etc. The proposal would be sent to the Centre only after an industry partner for the venture and location are finalised, he added.

For setting up the premier institute the state government will bear about Rs 35 crore, the private party will invest Rs 19 crore and the balance would come from the Centre.

The source added, that the state government will provide 50-100 acres of land free of cost for building the premier institute. The site for IIIT will be decided by the industry partner. If the partner selects the location in Bhubaneswar then the required land will be provided at Information Technology Investment Region spread over 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda, he added.