Information Technology Park Ltd (ITPL) expects to step up the development of its India flagship, International Tech Park Bangalore, with plans to build a business-class hotel with clubhouse facilities catering the needs of the multi-national population within the Park.
At the official opening today of the Park's latest building, the Explorer, it was also revealed that the new building was about 60% taken up due to brisk demand from IT-related companies.
The Explorer building was opened by the President of the Republic of Singapore, His Excellency S R Nathan, and the Governor of Karnataka, His Excellency T N Charturvedi. Witnessing the ceremony were Mr D B Inamdar, Minister of State for Tourism and Information Technology, Government of Karnataka; and two ministers from Singapore: Mr Lee Yock Suan, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs; and Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister of State for Transport and Information, Communications and the Arts.
Built at a cost of about Rs 90 crores (US$18.75 million), the Explorer was completed in 12 months and was ready for occupation in April 2002. Set on a 400,000 sq ft plot, the fully-infrastructured multi-tenanted building has 11 floors with each floor offering 33,670 sq ft of space. It also features a wide array of value-added facilities, including a multi-storey car park, which can accommodate 200 vehicles. Other value-added services include a full optic fibre network for voice and data services, and satellite connectivity to every unit. Tenants include MNCs such as AOL Member Services, Product Chain Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Applied Materials Inc., India Liaison Office, Quintiles India, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and FCI Technology Services Ltd.
The Explorer is the first building in Phase 1B of Stage 2 in the Park's development programme, which includes Build-to-Suit (BTS) facilities that can be designed and customized to the occupant's needs. Each BTS facility offers a built-up area of about 100,000 sq ft, which can be ready within 12 months. It can be made available to a single occupant company with building naming rights and the option for lease or sale.
The Bangalore Park is owned by Information Technology Park Ltd (ITPL), a joint venture between Tata Industries, the Karnataka State Government through KIADB, and a Singapore consortium led by Ascendas. To-date, the Park has a developed area of 1.6 million square feet. With close to 100 companies employing approximately 8,500 employees within, the Park was the first of its kind work-live-play environment to be built in India and has since become a role model for other IT park-like projects in the country.
International Tech Park Bangalore has been conferred the prestigious World Teleport Property of the Year 2002 award by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). This award recognizes the Park's contribution to Bangalore's remarkable growth and cites its ability to provide "plug-and-play" services, high-bandwidth and VSNL earth station services reliably to domestic and multi-national high-tech companies.
Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of ITPL, said: "We have a total of five voice and data communications service providers at the Park today, creating healthy competition and contributing to the development of the Park as a data centre hub. The addition of more companies in the Park has resulted in substantial growth and development of other value-added services."
Ms Chong Siak Ching, President & CEO of Ascendas Pte Ltd and Director of ITPL, noted: "The International Tech Park has a very good mix of multinational corporations and Indian companies. Major tenants like Infineon, Sanyo, SAP Labs and Tata Consultants have opted to conduct their business operations from here, making it the most sought-after business location in India, confirming our belief that the demand for a conducive work-live-play environment is high, not just from the MNCs but also from the local Indian corporates."
Ms Chong added: "We will continue to enhance the overall environment and add even more value for our customers, bringing our experience and lessons learnt from our other projects in Singapore and rest of Asia, to India. We plan to provide a business class hotel offering service apartments and clubhouse facilities. Negotiations are underway with one of the top hotel operators in India on this upcoming project. With the provision of banquet and conference facilities, swimming pool and other lifestyle amenities, businesses operating within the park can enjoy doorstep conveniences from such facilities. The community-at-large in Whitefield will also benefit."
The Park also offers Build-to-Suit facilities on lease, as another first in Bangalore. This lease arrangement will enable customers to enjoy the benefits of off-balance sheet financing and free up valuable resources to focus on their business operations.
