Massachusetts To Develop Bhubaneswar As Software Hub

Orissa and the state of Massachusetts in the US have agreed to develop Bhubaneswar and Boston as sister cities for software industries.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Governor Weld of Massachusetts and Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik, who is currently on a investment scouting mission to the US, in Boston last Thursday, official sources here said.

Patnaik, who invited Governor Weld to visit Orissa, made a forceful presentation about the states prospects as an emerging software hub in the country.

Responding to this, Robert Wolfgang, director of the Boston mayors office, proposed more active cooperation between Boston and Bhubaneswar, an official communique received from the touring party said.

 

The Chief Minister, who is accompanied by a high-level official and business delegation, also called on the Chief of Asia Pacific operation of IBM in Washington DC and discussed the possibility of investment by the worlds largest computer firm in Orissa.

According to the source, IBM has shown interest in setting up a software manufacturing and training facility in Bhubaneswar.

The General Manager of Asia Pacific operation of IBM, Timsen, is scheduled to visit the city in the first week of July to finalise the details.

Patnaik, who addressed a meeting of software companies in Boston last Wednesday, is also slated to meet the top brass of Microsoft during the visit and explore the possibility of the giant software firm investing in the state.

Meanwhile, the official delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Raytheon Corporation, the largest construction company in the US, for greater cooperation in the field of building airports, bridges and hybrid power stations in the state.

Raytheon is the contractors for the construction of the 500 mw thermal power station proposed by AES Transpower Corporation of the US at Ib Valley.

The Chief Minister also held discussions with Gautam Kaji, managing director of World Bank, and the Executive Director Surinder Singh in Washington on the Banks continued support to irrigation, health, road and child development projects in the state.

The World Bank is already funding some projects in these areas and has extended a $ 350 million assistance to the power sector reforms programme in Orissa.

Earlier, in New York, the Chief Minister had met the top executives and prominent Wall Street Investment bankers like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and urged them to invest in the infrastructure projects in Orissa. Merrill Lynch, according to sources, has proposed to issue municipal bonds along the lines of those floated in the US to mobilise resources for such projects in the state.