Himachal Pradesh To Set Up Its First IT Park

[jayanthi mandhalapu]

A senior official of the Himachal Pradesh government told on Friday that the state government is setting up the first-ever first information technology park of the state near Shimla."We are developing an IT park over 63 acres near Waknaghat in PPP (public-private partnership) mode. Tenders have been floated for setting up the park," Principal Secretary (IT) B.K. Agarwal told.

Waknaghat, which is present near the Chandigarh-Shimla highway in Solan district, is 30 km from Shimla.  He added that about Rs. 50 crore will be spent for the development of the infrastructural facilities like road network and power supply. The park would be leased out to a private developer for 80 years, who will hold the complete accountability for designing and developing buildings and units as well as providing utilities and amenities to the users.

"The concept of the project is to set up an IT destination comprising core IT activity and value adds like residential, commercial and social infrastructure."About 23 major IT firms are now operational in Himachal Pradesh.

[Anish Kumar Tiwari]