Nine firms in the race for Technocity

After the Pre-Qualification documents were submitted on June 30th, for Kerala's largest IT project, it has emerged that nine major firms have bid for the massive project. They are:

1. Emaar MGF - a joint-venture of Emaar Properties, the world's leading developer, and MGF Developments. On its own, Emaar MGF is one of India's biggest developers.

2. K.Raheja Corporation - one of India's leading developers and the builders of the iconic Mindspace IT parks.

3. Larsen & Toubro - India's biggest and most respected construction company which is behind other such iconic IT parks as HiTec City in Hyderabad and Tidel Park in Chennai.

4. Forest City is one of the leading developers in the US and is partnered by Sun Capital, a top investment bank and private equity firm.

5. Brigade Group is a leading builder in Bangalore.

6. SREI Group is one of India's top infrastructure development and financing firms.

7. Energy giant Suzlon's realty arm.

8. Maytas Infrastructure - is one of India's fast growing infrastructure development companies. It's a sister concern of software giant, Satyam.

9. Ramky Group is major player in infrastructure, property development and engineering.

An enviable collection of developers including the world's biggest and best have expressed their keen interest in developing Kerala's signature project. With a large number of bidders and a completely transparent global bidding system, Technocity is sure to see a lot of competition, which will ensure the best deal for the State of Kerala. Surely, the Government must be wishing that it had adopted this route earlier instead of preferentially allotting land to projects which are still dragging on and on and proving to be burdens to the State.

The qualification documents are due to be opened on Friday, following which they will be scrutinised by a high-level expert committee, before being sent to the State Cabinet for final clearance. The selected bidders will then compete in August for the grand prize, the Rs 8000 Crore Technocity. Stay tuned!

(For the complete Technocity story, from its inception in 2005 to the present day, please check out this forum which carries every last detail. Thanks!)