Kochi Smart City director’s board to meet today

Amidst continuing deadlock over the implementation of the proposed Smart City Kochi project, yet another meeting of the board of directors of the company would be held here today.

Unlike the initial board meetings, which evoked much interest triggering hopes of the project taking off, the ones held in the recent past had been just to fulfill the mandatory formalities.

The issue of right to freehold over 12 per cent land to Smart City, the Dubai-based promoters and the resultant stalemate over the registration of the land and Special Economic Zone notification had been keeping the project in a limbo for a long time now.

In between, arguments and ultimatums flew thick and fast between the stakeholders Smart City and the government dousing the hopes of the project materializing.

Fareed Abdulrahman, the Chief Executive Officer of Smart City, has pointed out the board meetings were being wrapped up without any significant decisions being taken.

After the last board meeting held on March 29 at which the outstanding issues plaguing the project were not discussed, Minister S. Sarma, who is also the chairman of the Smart City Kochi, had told waiting media persons that the board meeting was not the platform for discussing such issues as they need to be discussed at the government level as they related to an agreement reached between the government and Smart City.

He said that he was a mere board member like the rest of those on the board and was not authorized to take any decision on behalf of the government.

Via