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IT Habitat not a SEZ: Narvekar

NT Staff Reporter

Panaji, Feb 23 The Minister for Information Technology, Mr Dayanand Narvekar today said that neither will the proposed Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat be a Special Economic Zone, nor any IT unit coming up at the habitat would be allowed to develop the land for residential construction purpose.

Mr Narvekar, who was addressing ‘Goa Agenda 2007, Knowledge: Driver of Goan Economy’ organised by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at its city headquarters said, “When the IT Habitat was conceptualised, the SEZ was never at the back of our mind.” The IT department has no plans to apply for SEZ, in the future, as far as the IT Habitat is concerned, he assured.

The IT Minister also maintained that no entrepreneur who want to set up an unit at the IT Habitat will be allowed to develop the land for residential purposes. “Or else, the government will withdraw the lease of the concerned person,” he added.

Mr Narvekar stated that the IT department, when it decided to set up the IT Habitat, thought in terms of Business Process Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, call centres, animation units and so on.

The IT Minister further expressed confidence that the IT sector can satisfy the employment potential of the state, especially with the growing craze for white-collared jobs among the Goan youth. “It is possible to wipe out the unemployment in the state with jobs created in the IT sector,” he concluded.

Later, talking to ‘The Navhind Times’, Mr Narvekar said that the IT Habitat is being constructed on the left side of the Taleigao plateau, spread over an area of 2.5 lakh sq mt, while on the right hand side, in an area admeasuring 80,000 sq mt, there will be an infrastructure complex, including commercial area that will comprise of a shopping mall, residential colonies, sewage as well as garbage treatment plants, independent water pipeline, a four-lane road running from Bambolim to the plateau, and even jogging tracks.

“And all this infrastructure will be set up at the cost of the IT players,” he said, adding that the suburbs of Dona Paula as well as Taleigao will not be burdened by way of the IT Habitat due to this infrastructure. The IT Corporation, in fact, has charged each IT player Rs 1,500, per sq mt of land in the IT Habitat, which is on very high side, he maintained.

The chief executive officer and managing director of MCX, Mr Jignesh Shah, delivering the key-note address during the inaugural session said that often people compare IT industry with knowledge industry, which is a myth. “If we want to prosper in the IT industry,” he pointed out, “then we need to own intellectual property rights of creation.”

India and China are on the verge of becoming knowledge-based economy, and the base asset of India versus China, in this respect, is the investment of government and private sector in the field of education, Mr Shah said, adding “Knowledge is the key asset but it is not useful unless translated into balance sheet profit.”

Mr Shah also noted that in China, there is huge land infrastructure and non democratic setup and hence the country can drive reforms heavily. “On the contrary, in India, the reforms, especially in terms of labour are difficult to come,” he pointed out.

Stating that the markets are essential pillars of growth of economy, Mr Shah stressed on the importance of commodity, equity and currency.

Finally, he observed that Goa could match all the likes of Dubai and Singapore with their international lifestyle, stating “When one is planning strategy for the knowledge economy base, one should be vertically focussed.”

The GCCI president, Mr Nitin Kuncolienkar, in his welcome address said that the state IT policy is slowly putting Goa on the IT map.

Informing that altogether 7,453 IT students passed out last year, from various state educational institutions, Mr Kuncolienkar said that for so much work force created annually, Goa needs jobs and hence creating IT market locally is important.

He also maintained that IT and IT enabled activities are increasing in the state, and therefore creating knowledge-based set up is a must.

A number of sessions including ‘Knowledge as an asset for new economy’, ‘New knowledge-based services’ and ‘Key drivers for a successful knowledge economy’ were held during the day.

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