Though the budget presented by finance minister K N Balagopal did not announce any major IT projects, all major IT parks in the state managed to get fund allocation for development works. This will help make the IT corridor project announced in the previous budget a reality.
An amount of Rs 26. 60cr has been earmarked for developmental activities of Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, Rs 35. 75cr for the development of Infopark, Kochi and Rs 12. 83cr for Cyber Park, Kozhikode.
The minister also announced that the construction works of the proposed IT park in Kannur will start this year itself. Along with developing the existing IT centres, the government is planning to set up new IT corridors parallel to NH-66 which is being developed as a six-lane highway.
A total of Rs 559cr has been earmarked for the IT sector, in the budget. Among this, Rs 127. 37cr has been provided for Kerala State Information Technology Mission and Rs 53cr for State Data Centre.
Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project got Rs 100cr while Rs 2cr was earmarked for providing free household internet connection under K-FON project to 70,000 eligible BPL families. For this, 500 families will be identified in each assembly constituency.
CEO of Kerala Startup Mission Anoop P Ambika said that the programmes such as ‘Make in Kerala’ and ‘work near home’ would benefit the startup sector. “For the startup sector in the state the budget is futuristic. Theregular allocation of Rs 90. 52cr can be utilized to extend KSUM activities to abroad. The additional fund of Rs 30cr can be used for other developmental activities,” he said.
Graphene Centre to be operational this year
In his budget speech, Balagopal said that theactivities of India Innovation Centre for Graphene set up to conduct research experiments on Graphene will become operational by September 2023, in Kochi.
A sum of Rs 10cr, including the plan allocation of Rs 6cr, has been earmarked for the activities of the Centre for this year, said the minister.
The minister also said that 13. 65 acres has been identified for Digital Science Park at Technopark Phase-IV, Thiruvananthapuram, for which 10,000sqft space has been identified at Technopark campus till the completion of the building. The park will be functional by May, 2023.