Govt planning to raise loan of Rs 122.3 cr to fund IT Hybrid Cluster

Panaji: The government is planning to raise a long-term loan of Rs 122.3 crore, with a payment period of eight years, to fund the IT Hybrid Cluster coming up at Penha de Franca.

The project is most likely be implemented through loan raised either from NABARD or EDC depending on the rate of interest, revealed  Jennifer Monserrate, IT Minister, on Monday.

Replying to a question by MLA Rohan Khaunte on the progress of ongoing IT projects in the state, Monserrate said that hybrid cluster is to be developed over 12,455 sq mtrs of land. 

The project received environment clearance (EC) from the Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority on June 17 2020, she said, adding that mutation of the land as well as declaring the area as earmarked for IT project have been completed.

“The department of IT is in the process of obtaining conversion sanad for the land and also obtaining approval for the building plans from the TCP.  South Korea-based Space Group Co Ltd, and Asure Design Studio, Telangana have been appointed as design consultants for the project for a consultation fee of Rs 100 crore. Of this, Rs 91.7 lakh has already been paid to the consultants, who have so far completed 26 per cent of the design work,” disclosed

Monserrate.

The proposed IT cluster will be self-sustaining, and have IT-related and mixed-use facilities such as Plug and Play, incubation space, commercial activities and other facilities.

Meanwhile, the state government has made budgetary allocation of Rs 7.5 crore during 2020-21 for the three ongoing IT projects, of which Rs 5 crore is by way of grant-in-aid and Rs 2.5 crore by way of other charges, said the IT Minister.   

On the progress of the IT Electronic System Design and Manufacturing Park (ESDM) project at Tuem, Pernem, the Infotech Corporation of Goa (ICG) which is implementing the project, is in the process of constituting a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and drafting the land allotment policy, she said.

The Tuem project, covering 5.97 square metres of land, has been granted the EC and conversion sanad for 3.92 lakh square metres of land. It will cost Rs 161.3 crore, and is to be part funded by the state and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). The two partners have till date contributed Rs 27.2 crore for the project, said

Monserrate.

The IT Park in Chimbel is yet to receive EC, and since the Chimbel Gram Seva Kala Sunskrutik Manch has filed a PIL writ petition No. 41 of 2019 in the High Court of Bombay at Panaji, against the project, the matter is sub-judice, and all the balance works are kept on hold, revealed the IT Minister.