Abdullatif Almulla appointed Vice Chairman of Kochi SmartCity

Abdullatif Almulla, CEO of TECOM Investments, has been appointed as Chairman of SmartCity Kochi, a self sustained knowledge-based industry township being developed in Cochin, the commercial capital of Kerala. The project, which is jointly promoted by TECOM Investments and the government of Kerala, was recently inaugurated by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan.

The announcement of Almulla's appointment came at SmartCity Kochi's first board meeting, which took place in Cochin and was attended by representatives of the Kerala Government; Minister for Fisheries S. Sharma, who is also the Chairman of SmartCity Kochi; Fareed Abdulrahman, Executive Director of SmartCity; Deepak S. Padmanabhan and Jamal Abdulsalam, Executive Director of Dubai Internet City.

The pilot meeting focused on the future course of action in the implementation of SmartCity Kochi, the budget and marketing plans for 2008, and the synergy between the government of Kerala and TECOM in promoting Kerala and SmartCity Kochi as an IT destination. A team to handle initial on ground operations was also approved by the Board members.

Fareed Abdulrahman, Executive Director - SmartCity, said: "We are happy to convene our first Board of Directors meeting. The decisions taken by the Board have set the path for the project to be rolled out in the required direction. We are fully confident about the success of SmartCity Kochi and delighted to play a part in opening up new avenues of growth in the Indian state, specifically in the IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) sectors."

SmartCity Kochi will be one of India's largest business parks with an employment generation potential of over 90,000 jobs. Apart from drawing strong foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, the project's multiplier effects are expected to bring several other benefits to the economy.

SmartCity Kochi will include a state of the art business-community infrastructure, and a dynamic range of retail, hospitality, residential and recreational facilities that drive productive business as well as a quality lifestyle.

Source : arabianbusiness.com