Manoj Nair, the Chief Executive Officer of SmartCity Infrastructure Kochi Private Limited, has stepped down. CEO of Smart City Kochi since September 2017, Manoj cited personal reasons for his resignation, while differences of opinion between himself and the government were behind the decision, a report by Malayala Manorama said.
Smart City is a business and technology park in Kochi city’s Kakkanad, which was founded in 2011. It is a joint venture IT Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project under the Information Technology Department of the state government and an affiliate of Dubai Holding. While the former holds 16% of shares, the latter holds 84%. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is the chairman of its Director Board while Dubai Holding’s Khalid Malik is the managing director.
Even though envisioned to be spread across more than 240 acres and providing around 90,000 jobs, Kochi Smart City is yet to achieve the targeted results. Malayala Manorama reported that only around 5,000 persons are employed here at present. Media reports stated that the Kerala floods of 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic were cited as reasons for the project’s poor performance. The Smart City website says that 37 companies currently operate in the SEZ.
Manoj Nair was the fourth CEO since the project’s inception. Prior to taking up the Smart City CEO position, Manoj Nair was the director of operations and board member at VCS Quality Services, a consulting company in Mumbai.