The state government has decided to woo big financial technology firms to occupy the Bengaluru Signature Business Park, the flagship infrastructure project coming up near the city’s airport that authorities say will rival the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
The project, which is in the works for over a decade now, received a fresh lease of life when it figured in Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s 2021-22 Budget.
‘Work is going on and it will hopefully be ready by next year,’ Additional Chief Secretary (Infrastructure Development) Kapil Mohan told DH.
According to Mohan, the park will focus on financial technology with investments to the tune of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. ‘It will be swanky, stylish…we’d like to have the world’s who’s who inside. Allotments will start in about 3-4 months,’ he said.
According to the Karnataka State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (KSIIDC), which is anchoring the project, the Bengaluru Signature Business Park will be developed as a business district comprising corporate offices, parks, mall, multiplex and so on.
The KSIIDC has 407.08 acres of land adjoining the city’s airport in Devanahalli for the project. The built-up area will be about 247.13 acres. ‘This is one of the last major pieces of land that we have,’ Mohan said, referring to the prime Bengaluru International Airport area.
In his Budget speech, Yediyurappa said that the development of ‘trunk infrastructure’ of this project was underway at a cost of Rs 168 crore. ‘The total development cost will be about Rs 370-400 crore, excluding land cost. The park will have a dedicated 4-lane road, which in itself will cost Rs 200 crore,’ Mohan said.
The government will provide only common infrastructure and allot plots where the incoming companies will set up their facilities.
The Yediyurappa administration will bank on this big-ticket project to hop onto the post-pandemic recovery bandwagon. ‘We have received many expressions of interest,’ Mohan said.
The government has also tweaked the Bengaluru Signature Business Park plan by excluding the Bengaluru International Convention Centre (BICC), for which 35 acres were earmarked.
The BICC is proposed to have a state-of-the-art 6,000-seater capacity hall with food courts and other supporting facilities such as star category hotels and premium service apartments. ‘The BICC was part of the original plan, but now we’ve decided that it will come up somewhere else in the BIAL area,’ Mohan said.