The first phase of Kerala’s dream Smart City project, including a Rs 4 billion-650,000 sq ft IT tower overlooking a 300-metre waterfront area, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Cochin on Feb 20.

The project is a joint venture of Dubai Holding and the state government.

The launch of the 470,000 sq ft phase-two was also performed simultaneously. It will be completed in 36 months and provide 60,000 jobs.

Proponents of the project, which is inspired by the great knowledge-cluster success stories, claim it brings the expertise of Dubai to develop self-sustained clusters for knowledge based enterprises that aim to serve the Indian subcontinent and beyond.

The phase-two will have seven towers, including the tallest IT tower in India in the 1.8 million sq ft project by Sands Infrabuild, the IT division of Lulu Group.