COIMBATORE: Chief minister M K Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated a new IT park on the ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu) premises at Vilankurichi in the city.
Spread over an area of 2.94 lakh sq ft and constructed at a cost of Rs 158.32 crore, the new IT park is expected to provide employment opportunities to 3,500 people.
Before reaching the inaugural event, Stalin received a rousing welcome from his party cadre and the public all along the route from the Coimbatore International Airport to the new IT park. Some even handed over petitions and books to the chief minister when his convoy stopped at a few places.
After inaugurating the new IT park, the chief minister handed over the allotment orders to the private companies that would occupy the IT tower soon.
Speaking at the event, minister for information technology and digital services Palanivel Thiaga alleged that the construction of the IT park was stopped in the previous AIADMK regime because of some irregularities.
“After a series of struggles, the building was constructed. The IT tower building has received 100% occupancy,” he added.
“There is a huge demand for space to set up IT offices in Coimbatore city. We received demands from many people to construct additional buildings on the vacant land of ELCOT. The details will be submitted to the chief minister. After getting approval from the chief minister, work on the additional building will begin,” the minister said.
Ministers KN Nehru, EV Velu, V Senthil Balaji, TRB Rajaa, and chief secretary N Muruganandam participated in the event.
Later speaking to reporters, ELCOT managing director R Kannan said, “We are going to create at least 100 seats of coworking space at the IT tower.”
He said ELCOT plans to construct two more IT towers on the 17.17 acres of vacant land on the ELCOT premises in Vilankurichi at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. It will have 26 lakh sq ft of space, and these two IT towers will generate 35,000 new employment opportunities in Coimbatore.
“Once the chief minister approves, we will start constructing the two towers,” Kannan said.
