......................................................................................................................
Smart City
Smart City was one of the most auspicious and lucrative project under took by government of Kerala in the recent past, but failed to accomplish enmeshed in a slew of reason, which is beyond the understanding of any one other than political law makers. If completed in the time frame envisaged originally, the project would have showed Kerala to new heights.
It was supposed to be constructed by Dubai Internet City, which was poised to create at least 100,000 jobs. The most interesting reason heard lately about the delay was that the Dubai Internet City authorities were hit hardly by global economic recession and hence fund flow has dried out jeopardizing the project.
History
It was Chief Minister of Kerala A.K. Antony who initiated the project in 2003. Later, Oommen Chandy who succeeded Antony was also keen in moving forward with the project. During his tenure, a feasibility study was done and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed, however, failed to move further in wake of stubborn resistance from opposition parties.
Nevertheless, V.S. Achuthanandan who took over the office from Oommen Chandy showed some interest in the project and rejuvenated the project with further discussions. Earlier MoU was appended and altered.
Thus, after 4 long years of wait, finally, on 13 May 2007, Kerala government officials and TECOM investments and Sama Dubai together inked the final deal. This, however, was only just the beginning of unfortunate events to follow.
In November 2009, doubts were raised by the state government about TECOM's financial stability. The government issued an admonition to TECOM that they would transfer the project to some others if they are not willing to complete the project as per the schedule.
After much ado, Tecom's later relaxed it stands on free-hold land right Initial investment of the project totaled over $400 million and covers around 1,000 acres or 4.0 km2.
Up on completion, the project will have 8.8 million square feet of space with a minimum of 6.2 million square feet of IT space.
KAKKANAD.IN
All rights reserved @ kakkanad.in
......................................................................................................................
A Smart Beginning
While the fate of Smart city still looms large like the sword of Democles, Kochi, nevertheless, attained a mile stone in its growth to a metro by joining the league of big cities that houses multiplexes and megaplexes in its womb.
The Queen of Arabian sea, at least, can now be boastful itself for having a four screen multiplex which is also the first of its kind in Kerala. This, however, is not in any terms the greatest in the number of screens when equated to the 11-screen multiplex located at the Forum shopping mall, Bangalore owned by Priya Village Roadshow (PVR), which also happens to be the largest in India.
The State's first multiplex (Cinemax) situated at Oberon Mall at Edapally has around 680 seats in total with at least 150 seats per screen. Charges may vary from Rs. 80 to Rs. 250. Viewers can reserve tickets either through online or through telephone. The mall also has spot selling facilities through counters situated both at ground floor and and the top fourth floor where the screens are staged.
The advent of multiplex has thus provided Kochites with an opportunity to experience shopping and on screen entertainment champions all under the shade of a one roof. However, one have to say that when compared to conventional cinema houses featuring 70 mm and other facilities, screens of multiplexes are much small.
The Oberon Mall project is also second venture of Mumbai-based CineMax in South India that currently holds a similar establishment in Hyderabad. Cinemax is looking to have a total of around 101 screens and 32 properties by March 2010, at an investment of Rs 2 crore per screen. The company currently has 88 screens and 28 properties in India.
The largest multiplex in the southern hemisphere holds around 26 screen and is at Megaplex Marion in Adelaide, South Australia. In total, India at present houses 250 multiplexes with at least 900 screens.
However, there is no room to worry for Kerala. India in recent future is going to see a big boost in the industry with investors planning to pump around Rs. 400 crore. Accordingly, there should be around 200 new screens by the end of 2010.
Though recession acted as a major reason for the slow pace in the expansion of multiplexes in India, now with improvements in the consumer confidence, we can surely hope better this year.
We can now give a break to the story of multiplexes and start brooding over to other major changes occurring and poised to happen in Kochi.
In the recent past, Kochi turned attractive to many multinational corporations and retail chains around the globe, despite posing many negative in the form of traffic congestion, red tapism and snail pace development. Malls and Food courts are now a common sight of the streets of Kochi, greatly influencing that brought out striking changes in the lifestyle of Kochites.
Q1, Prestige, Lulu Shopping Mall Cochin, Grand Cochin, The Souk, The Forum Cochin, Abad Nucleus, Summit Mall, Metro One, Park View Mall are some amongst the many big names treading to make their presence in Kochi.
Amongst all these international players, Lulu Cochin Mall, with an area of 2,500,000 square feet and around 240 renowned outlets of food courts, restaurants and family entertainment zones coupled with a seven-screen multiplex, will definitely be an experience which is first of its kind in Kochi and all over India. With an estimated cost of 1500 crore, when completed it will be the biggest of its kind in India.
The greatest specialty of Lulu Complex will, however, be the 5 start hotel, which would be located adjacent to the mall, with about 250 rooms, multi cuisine restaurants, swimming pool and other facilities.
Designed by W.S. Atkins, the designer of Burj-al-Arab, Dubai, Gold Souk Grande, Kochi will sprawl itself in an area of 5,00,000 square feet, while Forum belonging to the Presitge Group will occupy an area of around 10,70,000 square feet. Abal Nucleus while will be located at Maradu will be having an area of around 1,25,000 square feet of shopping mall and 45,000 square feet of office space.
