The much awaited Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC) to come up at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) has got underway with the construction work. The Chandigarh IT department’s initiative will serve as an incubation centre facilitating start ups by providing the infrastructural support. The contractor- Sam ( India) Built Well Pvt Ltd plans to develop the center within 15 months over the sprawling 1.5 acres.
The project will entail a total investment of about Rs 15 crore and is likely to house small entrepreneurs, software developers, R&D companies, IT/ITES, KPO etc. “About 6-7 companies that are already operational at the Society for Promotion of Information Technology in Chandigarh (SPIC) centre have evinced interest to occupy space at the EDC. The rentals will be competitive enough and a minimum office space of 1,000 acres will be allotted to the interested company. The companies can operate from the EDC for four years including one year extension and then they’ll have to move,” a senior official told FE.
“The center would be developed and would operate on the lines of the SPIC centre. It would mainly focus on providing all the facilities to the smaller IT companies so that they can carry on their operations by renting a space in the RGCTP. Eventually the Regional Cyber Security Research Centre, presently functional at Punjab Engineering College, would be shifted to the EDC,” added the official.
The administration is pinning high hopes from the EDC to become a big software export centre and boost the software exports from the region. The project was approved in august 2006 to facilitate the IT software export companies that are willing to come to the park, but as yet does not have a fully developed building of their own, or their built to suite plot is not yet constructed. This will also have the administrative offices of the IT dept that will be more accessible and approachable for the IT companies in the vicinity.
Expected to attract around 60 companies, EDC would serve as an incubation centre for the IT exporters and entrepreneurs from the region.