Permanent site of IIIT, Guwahati to come up near airport

Guwahati: The land acquisition for the permanent site of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) near LGBI Airport here has been almost completed, said Kamrup Deputy Commissioner Dr J Balaji on Tuesday.
About 45 acres has been identified for the campus near the proposed IT Park, which is about 5 km away from the airport, Balaji said at a meeting of the 5th State Steering Committee (SSC) chaired by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Official sources said Balaji informed the chief minister that the land acquisition process would be completed by January 15. The land acquisition cost would be Rs 23.20 crore would be borne by the state government and Rs 30 crore has been already been earmarked for it, the sources said.
Gogoi, who is the Chairman of the SSC, said the government intended to invite the Prime Minister to lay the foundation stone of the project in February. He directed the district administration to preserve the water bodies in and around the campus and not to go for earth filling that might hinder the natural flow of water.
An amount of Rs 120 crore has been earmarked by the Centre for construction of the IIIT building. It was also decided in the meeting that the approach road and some of the infrastructure facilities like power, water and sewerage treatment may be shared by both the IIIT and the IT Park to cut cost, the sources said. Mentor Director, IIIT, Guwahati, Prof Gautam Barua said the Ministry of Human Resource Development would provide up to Rs 10 crore as seed money and non-recurring expenses up to four years and after that revenue has to be generated by the Institute on its own.
The IIIT, Guwahati is presently functioning from its temporary campus in the Assam Textile Institute from August with 60 students on the roll. (PTI)