TS govt redesigns ITIR to dot ORR

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has changed its plans of setting up of Information Technology and Investment Regions (ITIR) at four locations in the city. Now it proposes to have ITIR project along the Outer Ring Road where the government is already underway to create Transit Oriental Growth Corridors (TOGC).

This decision was taken as the Centre had refused to sanction funds for the much-hyped ITIR project conceived during the previous Congress government in the united Andhra Pradesh. Following this, the Telangana government has taken up fresh exercise to redesign the one of the prestigious ITIR projects in the country coming up in Greater Hyderabad limits.

The ITIR project was approved for Hyderabad by the then Congress-led UPA government in November 2013 in an area of 202 sq km. It was proposed to develop IT Iand ITES projects in five zones across the city.

The project comprising Cyberabad Development Authority, including Gachibowli and Madhapur which have emerged as IT hubs and Hyderabad Airport Development Authority (HADA), including Mamidipalli, Raviryal, Adibatla and Maheswaram, Uppal and Pocharam.

The officials said that the present Union government was not happy with the earlier plan meant for the development of the ITIR. The Centre raised several doubts on land zoning, including availability of land and creation of infrastructure in the region. “The Centre is of the view that the ITIR region should be a destination for global investments in future.

The existing plan was not up to the expectations from the companies interested in setting up IT and IT-enabled service centres,” sources said the requirement of land for the ITIR is 50,000 acres but, the availability of land was only 41,000 acres.

The state government estimated that Rs 15,000 crore will be required for development of roads, sewerage, water supply, solid waste and electricity in the regions, the officials said the Centre was not ready to provide required funds. The state government was not in a position to bear the financial burden for the development of infrastructure.

An official of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department told The Hans India that in the present circumstances, the only option before the government to make the ITIR a reality is to redesign the entire project. Under the new plan, project will come up all along the Outer Ring Road where the government is already underway to create Transit Oriental Growth Corridors (TOGC).

The MA&UD department identified 13 centres which include IT hardware, knowledge hub, logistic hub, medical hub and aerospace IT hardware centre under the TOGC. Specific locations for each parks have been identified and the ITIR will also be included in the growth corridor. This will help the government to create required land bank for the ITIR and also help reduce the cost for the infrastructure development in the growth corridor.