Thiruvananthapuram: While this year's Kerala budget has put the spotlight on a proposed rare-earth corridor, the IT corridors along NH 66 announced four years ago remain stuck on paper, with land acquisition stalled and funds diverted to other projects.

In the 2022 state budget, the government proposed two new IT parks and 20 satellite parks along National Highway 66 as part of the IT corridor project, in addition to existing facilities. At the time, the government said it had identified land at 62 locations for the proposed satellite parks.

However, official records now show that land acquisition for the IT corridors has been indefinitely delayed. Of the ₹1,000 crore allocated from the KIIFB fund for acquiring land for the corridors, ₹600 crore has since been diverted for land acquisition for a new project under the Kerala Space Park (K-Space). This effectively confirms that neither the two proposed IT parks nor the 20 satellite parks have materialised so far.

The 2022–23 budget had envisioned IT corridors parallel to NH 66 at Technopark Phase III–Kollam, Ernakulam–Koratty, Ernakulam–Cherthala, and Kozhikode–Kannur. The plan included setting up two new IT parks in Kollam and Kannur, along with 20 satellite parks across the state, each with a built-up area ranging from 50,000 to 2 lakh sq ft. To ensure access from the national highway, the government had proposed acquiring 15–20 acres of land at each of the 20 locations. Administrative approval for allocating ₹1,000 crore from the KIIFB land acquisition pool was granted in October 2022.

The plan also included developing the Kannur IT Park on land acquired by KINFRA, valued at ₹64 crore. While the detailed project report (DPR) had already been approved by both the government and KIIFB, it was recently revised to align with the updated Delhi Schedule of Rates (DSR), requiring fresh government approval.

Four months ago, the government granted administrative approval to construct the Kollam IT Park on 85 cents of land under the Kallada Irrigation Project at an estimated cost of ₹80 crore using KIIFB funds. However, the project is still at the design stage. Although the government announced in September 2022 that 62 land parcels had been identified and a committee formed to shortlist 20 for the satellite parks, not a single parcel has been acquired so far.

Meanwhile, Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL), which was initially tasked with land acquisition and development of the IT corridors, has been removed from the special purpose vehicle for the proposed Kollam IT Park.

₹600 crore diverted to K-Space project
Around the same time, the IT corridors were announced, Kerala Space Park approached the government seeking to acquire 60 acres of private land near the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) campus in Thiruvananthapuram for an Aerospace Control Systems Centre. As land acquisition for the IT corridors remained stalled, ₹600 crore from the corridor fund was reallocated to the K-Space project.

Administrative approval for the land acquisition was granted at a recent cabinet meeting. The project aims to manufacture software and hardware for rockets, missiles and aircraft, and is expected to generate an estimated 100 jobs per acre.