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Technology Stocks : Satyam Infoway Ltd-(Nasdaq:SIFY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (713)	2/14/2000 9:12:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1471

OT Kerala to link 997 panchayats through intranet NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 13: E-governance bug has bitten Kerala now. After Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, it is now the turn of Kerala to become information technology savvy. The state has embarked on a Rs 300-crore ($66 mil) project to link all the 997 panchayats through intranet for better administration, K G Satheesh Kumar, chief executive officer of Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, told PTI here.The project which has been successfully tested in seven panchayats in the state, is being implemented by `Information Kerala Mission'. The intranet project, which would take another one year to complete, was taken up as telephone links were found to be expensive, Kumar said. The state government is also planning major expansion of IT infrastructure in the state to project the as an investment destination. "We have started working out modalities of construction of a second phase of Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram at an investment of Rs 160 crore," Kumar said. He said the second phase, which would be taken up with foreign participation, would also include a school for information technology and management on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology. "There is already a big domestic market for IT," Kumar said, adding that the state did not want to compete with Bangalore or Hyderabad but with Silicon Valley itself. "We have a tie-up with Gulfar, a Muscat-based company dealing in industrial parks and conventional tourism, for the construction of the second phase," Kumar said. Gulfar would be picking up 50 per cent stake in the venture and the rest would be with Technopark in the form of land holdings, he added. At present, the Technopark, which was initially started as a technology park for electronics, has about 75 per cent occupancy with about 44 companies, including it majors like Tata Consultancy and IBM. Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (Ksidc) has invested Rs 75 crore in the development of the park, while another Rs 150 crore came from private investors. The park has already recorded an export turnover of Rs 100 crore within two years of its operation, Kumar said. "We want the export turnover to become Rs 250 crore within the next two years," he added. Kumar said Technopark was planning to further expand its base by setting up a third phase. The third phase located near Akulam would house a residential complex, five star hotels and various institutes, he added.