CHENNAI: A new Information Technology (IT) park is likely to be set up near King's Institute in Guindy, Chennai with an investment of Rs 600 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, according to official sources.

The Tech Park will be similar to Olympia Techpark in Chennai and will come up on six-and-a-half acres of land at the site where Exide Batteries once had its offices and will generate 12,000 jobs.

This will add 1.2 million square feet of office space to the city at a time when there is a shortage of IT micro-market office space. It is learnt that the project is awaiting single window clearance from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) under the Business Facilitation act.

Sources indicated that the project also requires clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. The project will commence in 2021. Sources said the project has already attracted foreign direct investment and it will cater to multiple IT sectors.

The project comes in the wake of Ascendas-Singbridge Group, a leading sustainable urban development and business space solutions provider, last week announcing acquisition of a 12.20-acre land parcel in Chennai to be developed into an IT park.

A Shankar, Chief Operating Officer,  Strategic Consulting, India & Sri Lanka, Jones Lang LaSalle told Express that these new tech parks were coming up at a time when there was huge demand for office space for information technology projects. "The investment is coming at the right time. It is not only these two projects, many are being planned in the Poonamallee area as well," he said.

With the Global Investors Meet (GIM) around the corner, all these projects will be given priority and would be cleared if the site is clean and the project is good, said Shankar.

Knight Frank, a property consultant has said that inadequate supply of office space is continuing to limit transactions. Office rentals have continued to increase in the city, with central business districts seeing an increase of Rs 65 to Rs 95 per square feet a month while in southern business districts they have increased by Rs 50 to Rs 76 per square feet a month.