Gujarat will soon get a sprawling IT Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with a committed investment of Rs 8,000 crore.
Being set up by Ahmedabad-based developer, Ganesh Housing Corporation, in collaboration with US real estate development and investment firm Tishman Speyer, the SEZ, called “Million Minds Tech City”, will come up on 65 acres near Chharodi village along SG Road in Ahmedabad.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Ganesh Housing Corporation and the state government for this in the presence of Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday.
The MoU was exchanged between Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan and Shekhar Patel, MD of Ganesh Housing Corporation. It envisages an investment of Rs 5,000 crore and will commence by 2026.
The MoU says the state government will facilitate the necessary permissions and clearances from the concerned departments of the state, according to existing policies.
Apart from office space for IT and ITes companies, the project will have dedicated residential, commercial and hospitality spaces. Ganesh Housing Corporation has partnered with Singapore-based architecture firm RSP Engineering to execute the project..
The dedicated SEZ campus will have 80 lakh square feet of space for IT and ITes offices in addition to 53 lakh square feet of residential space, 5 lakh square feet of neighbourhood malls and other amenities and 2 lakh square feet of hotels and serviced apartments, the company said in a statement.
“The service sector is the fastest growing sector in India and contributes 58% of the country’s GDP. The sector accounts for just 38% of the GSDP in Gujarat, showing the vast scope for further development here. Looking to make Million Minds Tech City the Silicon Valley of Western India, the SEZ is an opportunity for IT companies who wish to move from saturated metropolitan cities to emerging markets like Ahmedabad. This will put Ahmedabad on the global IT map,” Patel said.
The total investment will encompass land and construction costs of Rs 7,500 crore and other expenditure of Rs 500 crore, the company said. It will create direct employment for 1.6 lakh people in addition to indirect jobs for 40,000. The SEZ project is expected to be completed in seven years, sources said.Companies such as Apple, IBM, SAP, HCL, eInfochips, Oracle, Google, Amazon, Meta, LinkedIn, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Infosys will be approached to set up offices in the SEZ.