The KochiNow Blog

Volvo Ocean Race signs LOI with Kochi for stopover port

Volvo Ocean Race has moved forward with its plans to bring the 2008-09 event to India and it now looks likely that the major southwestern port of Kochi will be the stopover on the new race route through the Middle East and Asia.
Race organisers signed a Letter of Intent with Kochi on 26 April as a major first step in ongoing negotiations towards a full port agreement to host the world’s premier offshore ocean marathon which starts in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October 2008.

Kochi was among a number of Indian ports in recent discussions with organisers.

The Kochi Port Trust, which will be responsible for organising the stopover, with the full backing of the Kerala Tourism Department, welcomed the signing of the Letter of Intent and were confident that the stopover would give the port great exposure.

“India has never hosted such a prestigious sailing event and we are very excited that the Volvo Ocean Race is considering Kochi as a serious candidate for the competition,” said the Chairman of the Kochi Port Trust, Mr N. Ramachandran.

Read the full news

Ernakulam a fertile ground for small industrial units

Staff Reporter

1,447 units registered during the last financial year

KOCHI : Ernakulam district saw the birth of a large number of micro, small and medium industrial units during the last financial year.

Considering the developments in the industrial clusters, the number of new enterprises registered under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act and the number of self-employment schemes implemented under the PMRY, significant developments took place in the micro-small- medium sector.

During the period, 1,447 new units were registered under the MSMED Act that came into effect in October 2006. The Hindu full story

City gets a media school
Thursday April 19 2007 11:37 IST

KOCHI: “Teachers in media schools must be well trained,” said actor Madhu. He was speaking after inaugurating the Cochin Media School in Kochi on Wednesday.

“Students should be given quality training. Though the television sector is flourishing in Kerala, the number of institutions which offer quality education in this field is very low,” Madhu said.

Sebastian Paul MP, who unveiled the school logo, said that the lack of training was evident in the television sector. “We have many institutions in the state which offer courses and training programmes in print media. Most people in the visual media are self-made as they have not received quality training. We should develop a generation which can contribute to the television sector,” Sebastian Paul said.

The Cochin Media School is promoted by Cochin Media City, a public limited company. The institute offers certificate courses in digital movie making, digital videography, non-linear editing and anchoring. New Ind Xpress full story

Govt keen on amendments in constitution of IIEST
Thursday April 19 2007 12:36 IST

KOCHI: The State Government would press for certain amendments in the constitution of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) before giving its accord for upgrading Cochin University of Science and Technology into an IIEST.

This was made clear by Education Minister M A Baby at a discussion with the Cusat team led by Vice-Chancellor P K Abdul Azis, in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

The Kerala Government would formulate an alternative model for IIEST in consultation with the West Bengal Government, the Minister said.

…

It is learnt that even if the Centre does not pay heed to the amendments proposed by the state, it will give its accord for upgrading Cusat in the best interest of the university.

The Minister assured the Cusat delegation that the government had adopted a positive stand with regard to the elevation of Cusat’s status as an IIEST.

Other than the Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor N.D. Inasu and Registrar A Ramachandran were also in the delegation. New Indian Xpress story

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Smart City clinched

News has come out that TECOM approved Smart City deal
including the lease agreement for 99 years.

This blog heartily welcomes this news. We are happy that
CM VS Achutanandan has proved many critics wrong including this blog.
Full credit goes to VS on this smart deal.

SIGNATURE TOWER

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Cochin’s IT sprint gets another thrust - L&T announces launch of Signature
Tower immediately after it completes ongoing Tejomaya in Aug 2007. This
is a 20 storey structure with a minimum expected area of 500,000 sqft.
According to Infopark CEO it may go upto 750,000 sqft. What is germane
here is that this was originally concieved for their phase III. With Tejomaya
already heading for a sell out, L&T have decided to carry on with this mega
project early.

It’s not surprising that many phases are launched together given the boom
of Cochin’s IT sector. Govt of Kerala, doing the spectator’s role till now
(barring just a 250,000 sqft), now has taken up another 400,000 sqft building.
All in all Infopark will now have 3 million sqft by end 2008 - that without
counting campuses of firms like Wipro, TCS and IBS.

Govt of Kerala must learn lesson from this. Instead of draining tax money
on building IT parks, it must let private players do it. That will help bring
in the rightful share of IT pie to the state. Of course, it will be end of the day
for towns which thrive on tax money, but this invaluable wealth could be
used to support Kerala’s crumbling public health and education services.

Kochi is willing to generate that tax money, is GoK ready to spend it
in the right way ?