KOCHI: The Smart City ‘programme’ is being ‘loaded.’ Opening windows to the IT world, the construction of Smart City will begin on Saturday. Right from the beginning, there has been an uncertainty regarding the project. It continued even after the foundation stone was laid in November 2007.Dispute between the state government and Tecom over certain conditions caused further delay. Conditions in the agreement between the government and Tecom were modified a total of seven times.Here’s a chronology of the projectSmart City project is initiated by P K Kunhalikutty, the then IT Minister in the A K Antony government in 2004.April 27, 2005: The Dubai Internet City (DIC) team visits the Smart City project area as part of a feasibility study.April 29: Dubai Internet City offers considerable portion of stake to the state government.May 30: The state Law Department grants approval for the draft agreement between DIC and the state government.June 13: After discussions between the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan, one more clause is added to the draft agreement that if Tecom fails to generate employment opportunities that it had promised, the allotted land will be taken back.June 24: The Opposition announces that handing over of the Infopark to Tecom is not acceptable.September 9: After a consensus between the DIC and the state government, an MoU is handed over.March 7, 2006: the Election Commission stays the signing of the MoU as the Assembly elections are announced.April 19: The High Court gives green signal to the government to go ahead with the signing of the final agreement saying that the code of conduct will not apply to the Smart City project as the decision to start it was taken in 2004 itself.August 4: V S Achuthanandan takes over as the Chief Minister. He invites the DIC team for another round of discussions. He proposes new suggestions and alters the earlier MoU signed by Chandy. He includes clauses to implement the project without surrendering Infopark.January 2007: Tecom refuses to attend the meeting to finalise share holding and land value fixation.February 27: The board meeting ends inconclusive. The Tecom demands ownership of the land.March 18: The state government sticks on to its stand with regard to the lease condition.April 12: The government decided to assign land for a period of 99 years on lease.May 13: The LDF government modifies the earlier MoU. The government and Tecom sign the updated framework agreement.November 16: Achuthanandan lays the foundation stone for the Smart City Project.March 20, 2008: SEZ status is given to 136 acres of land for the proposed project.September 20: The state government gives exemption of `7 crore in registration fee.March 25, 2009: Tecom announces that if the dispute in connection with the freehold land is not solved, it will withdraw from the project.June 30: Tecom does not attend the bilateral talks in connection with the freehold land issue.December 3, 2010: The state government appoints NRK businessman and NORKA- Roots vice-chairman MA Yousaf Ali as the mediator.January 6: Yousaf Ali meets Abdul Lathif Al Mullah, Tecom Investors Group owner.February 2: The issues are resolved at a meeting between the then CM Achuthanandan and Ahamed Humaid Al Tayer, member of the Supreme Committee for Dubai World Group and Dubai Holding Group, UAE.February 23: A fresh lease agreement is signed by the then Kerala IT Secretary Suresh Kumar and Tecom authorities in the presence of the then Smart City chairman S Sarma.June 23: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announces that the first phase construction will start before October 31.
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