While the demand for affordable office space in Trichy is going up, it seems that the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot), which does not realise the advantages, is still missing the bus.
Though almost a year has been exhausted since Elcot completed a detailed project report (DPR) to construct phase II of Trichy IT Park, the civil work on expanding the facility is yet to begin.
The 147.61-acre Elcot IT Park at Navalapattu panchayat near the international airport has 60,000 square feet of office space, which has been fully occupied since a couple of years ago. The increasing demands from the IT and ITES firms have prompted Elcot to suggest an expansion plan in June 2018.
Even as a DPR was prepared on December 2018, the proposal remains only on paper. On the other hand, the demand for office space has doubled as new companies started operations and the existing ones planned expansions.
Around 12,000 people have been employed in IT, ITES and BPO sector in Trichy. But the number is expected to grow by 30%, hinting at the requirement of increased office space. According to CII Trichy zone chairman A R Syed Arif, the office space requirement in Trichy is estimated at 5 lakh square feet.
The proposed Elcot IT Park Phase II that was planned to set up at a cost of Rs 40 crore will have 1.10 lakh square feet office space. Sources in the ITES industry said that they are eagerly waiting for the completion of the phase II as it had offered subsidised office space.
Official sources in Elcot claimed that the Elcot board has recently okayed the expansion proposal. “Soon we will get sanction from the higher-ups. After that a tender will be floated to invite a contractor. The civic work may commence by December 2019,” an official source said.
The sources added that two companies that have leased land in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) have planned to build their own office space in Navalpattu.