Kochi, Sunday, February 13, 2011: A team of Tecom company delegates headed by company CEO Abdul Latif Al Mulla would reach Kerala on February 15. The team would sign the lease deed in connection with the proposed Smart city project at Kochi on Wednesday.

This is the second time the government will be signing the lease agreement with TECOM. The agreement signed earlier had been cancelled as the tenure ended. The land has been divided into two sections as per the new agreement. The lease agreement for 131 acres of land will be signed first as it has the approval of Special Economic Zone (SEZ). But the approval has not been received for the remaining 113 acres of land and so, the deal will be signed later.

The draft of the new lease agreement had been sent to TECOM and they in turn had e-mailed to the government approving the deal. But the law department had so far not approved the draft.

State government, representatives of Dubai government and promoters TECOM came to an agreement at a meeting here on February 2nd for revival of the Smart City project in Kochi which was in limbo for about five years. The agreement was signed at a crucial meeting chaired by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan with the representatives of Dubai government.

Chief Minister VS. Achuthanandan and Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE, announced after signing the minutes of the meeting that work would be started in a few months.

The Chief Minister said that construction of the building would start at the earliest in the proposed location in Kochi. The details of the agreement would be announced after approval by Cabinet this evening.

Al Tayer said that he was confident that the work could be taken up within three months. Any revision of investment amount would be left to the Director Board.

It is understood that the government and the promoters have agreed that the freehold of 12 per cent of the land proposed in the frame work agreement would be within the special economic zone and would be inalienable. The freehold area would come to about 29.5 acres of total 246 acres earmarked for the project. The balance is to be given to the promoter-company on lease for 99 years.

The master plan for the project is to be completed within a month and the free hold transferred to the company on preparation of the plan. The government is also understood to have agreed to consider waiver of stamp duty for registration of the deed.