AP moots I-Space tower as previous projects turn jinxed

Promoting Innovation

• Proposed in an area of 5 acres in non-SEZ area at Rushikonda

• On the lines of T-Hub of Telangana and O-Hub of Odisha

• Space for plug and play operators and strengthen the startup ecosystem

Visakhapatnam: Even as the projects conceived earlier for construction of towers to promote innovation culture have fallen flat in Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP Government has expressed its firmness to construct I-Space tower in Visakhapatnam on the lines of T-Hub of Telangana and O-Hub of Odisha. “It will be an iconic tower with three lakh sq ft of built-up area to provide space for plug and play operators and strengthen startup ecosystem,” Minister for Industries and IT Gudivada Amarnath said. The recently released New Industrial Development Policy also talks about this tower. The Minister said the tower will house the IT Department officials and incubators along with provision for funding, patenting and handholding by mentoring so as to provide all facilities under one roof.

The tower is proposed in an area of five acres in non-SEZ area at Rushikonda, very often projected as Cyberabad of Andhra Pradesh. Rushikonda is home to IT Special Economic Zone. Infosys has taken a building on lease to start its new campus in the city. Cyient, Miracle City, Fluentgrid, Symbiosys and other players have their facilities at Rushikonda. Rushikonda also has Millennium Tower A, which was opened during the erstwhile TDP regime. Nearly 200 crore was spent on this tower. Conduent is operating from here and still there is some space left. Work on Millennium Tower B is progressing slowly as it has missed the extended deadline several times. Andhra Pradesh lags far behind in promoting startups. The TDP after forming the government in 2014 had sought expression of interests for construction of a Signature Tower in an area of 9.5 acres at Rushikonda with an estimated investment of Rs 291 crore with one million sq ft. As there was a lukewarm response to take up the project by anyone on PPP mode, the project was shelved as then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had announced to take it up on a bigger scale than Cyber Towers of Hyderabad.

For a 1.09 lakh sft tower in an area of 2.5 acres at Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone, Duvvada for use for data recovery by big players, foundation stone was laid by then Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, ironically, Rs 40 crore was released for the project. However, for reasons best known to the authorities concerned, the fund was allowed to lapse. Later the stone laid for the project was also removed.

Another big project, a Boeing-shaped IT tower also fell flat. The stone for the project was laid by then Union Minister for IT Ravi Shankar Prasad at Siripuram behind the office of VMRDA (erstwhile). It was conceived by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and VMRDA as a joint venture. The 2,571 square metres of land allotted for the project by VMRDA was considered as their investment in the project. The project envisaged to provide plug and play facility to small and medium enterprises in IT and ITES, marine, petroleum and power sectors did not see the light of the day due to lack of follow-up and dispute over who will take up the construction between VMRDA and CPWD. Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP G V L Narasimha Rao alleged that the Andhra Pradesh Government had failed to achieve any growth in the IT sector. This was preceded by Union Minister of State for Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s reply to his query in the House that 86,713 startups have been recognised by DPIIT under the StartUp India initiative launched in September, 2016. Of these, only 1,341 are startups from Andhra Pradesh and the State is ranked at 15 behind Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The total number of direct employment generated on December 31, 2022 in India is 8.92 lakh. Of this, the number of jobs generated in the startups sector in Andhra Pradesh is only 12,557. The MP lamented in a statement sometime ago that the State that provides nearly 15 per cent of the IT manpower in the country is unable to make any strides in the IT sector.