Kochi: Technopolis, a nine-storey state-of-the-art IT park housing a rooftop restaurant, a full-fledged gymnasium, travel desks, ATMs, banks and a library-cum-information bureau, will be ready for occupation by November 2004.

The IT park project is being established at a two-acre plot at the Cochin Special Economic Zone, Kakkanad, by the Muthoot Pappachan Group with a project cost of Rs 35 crore. Technopolis is expected to provide employment opportunities for at least 3,000 IT and IT-enables services professionals.

Muthoot Pappachan Group managing director Thomas John Muthoot says the group has engaged Jurong Infrastructure India, part of JTC Corporation, Singapore, to provide the urban planning, architecture, engineering and construction services for the development of Kerala's first IT Technopolis.

"Once through, Technopolis 2004 will be an architectural landmark with a high-tech and user-friendly environment of international standards for its tenants," he says. "Construction work of the park will commence next week. Technopolis will provide a work-play-live-system."

Jurong has the expertise and track record in design and development of high-tech parks and campuses in India, such as the International Tech Park and IT Corridor in Bangalore, Hitech City Phase 3 and the most recent iLabs Campus in Hyderabad.

"We are confident that Technopolis will be functional as well as aesthetic. This is a forward-looking partnership backed by the development foresight of the Muthoot Pappachan group and Jurong India's international experience," says Jurong India CEO Rao Manukutla.

While 60 per cent of the space at Technopolis will be offered for sale, the remaining space will be leased out, says Muthoot. Another feature of Technopolis is the parking space for over 200 cars built into the IT complex.

Technopolis will offer the lowest cost per square foot compared to other IT parks and the operational costs will be less than 50 per cent compared to the rest of the country. Says Manukutla: "The application for the Technopolis project was cleared by the authorities in a day - a record that cannot be matched even by the US."

It took Jurong 45 days to receive clearance for its designs of IT parks at Bangalore and Hyderabad. "At CSEZ, we gave the designs in the morning and they were cleared by evening. It takes more time in the US," he adds.