Mini TIDEL Park projects announced across seven districts, including Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar, have reportedly stalled after foundation stones were laid, raising questions over whether the plans will be implemented.
The state has been promoting IT job creation by building large TIDEL parks in major cities and smaller “mini” parks of about 50,000 to 1 lakh sq ft in tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Under this initiative, foundation stones were laid this year for mini TIDEL parks in districts including Nagercoil and Virudhunagar.
However, despite several months passing after a change in regime, construction work has not begun. A similar delay is seen in Hosur, where the previous administration had floated a tender to build a 5 lakh sq ft TIDEL park at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore to attract IT investments from Karnataka, but the selected firm has not yet received a work order.
A senior industry department official said the TIDEL Park agency does not currently have funds to take up new TIDEL and mini TIDEL buildings. The official added that, following directions from top government officials after the regime change, contractors were instructed not to commence work on the foundation-stone-laid mini TIDEL parks, and that the same reason has delayed the Hosur work order.
The official said further action would depend on the government’s guidance in the coming days regarding these projects.
