Shillong, Dec 4: With the aim to boost the IT (Information & Technology) sector in Meghalaya, the state government has sanctioned Rs. 115 crores for the setting up of the second IT Park at Mawdiangdiang, New Shillong and the construction for it will commence in January 2023.

The development was informed by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma at the inauguration program of the new office of [24]7.ai at IT Park on Saturday afternoon.

“The second phase for the IT Park, which is about Rs 115 crores has already been sanctioned, we should be able to tender out a lot of the work for the starting of the construction we expect by January 2023. The construction of the next phase of the new IT Park which is double the size of the existing one will start next month… this shows the kind of intent we have and the kind of commitment and belief that this is the sector which can have a huge potential and huge job opportunity for our youth,” he said.

The total area for the construction of the second IT Park will be around 40 acres.

On a query by HUB News, the CM informed that the new Secretariat will come up in an area next to the IT Park at Mawdiangdiang.

“We are planning to build the new Secretariat in this area; just behind this (IT Park) is where the new Secretariat will come up and it will be the area where the new residential quarters will come up. We have taken some parts of the IT Park into the Secretariat zone. (But) we (are) still left with about 40 acres of land and enough space,” he added.

He further informed that the Government has already planned for the third and fourth phase as well.

“But it is obvious that we cannot make everything in one go because there are challenges like financial requirements. But if we see that the demand is there then we will go one step forward and ensure that the entire master plan is implemented at one go…. with the response we (are) receiving now, it is very encouraging,” he added.

Meanwhile, Animesh Jain, the Chief Delivery Officer of [24]7.ai, informed that his customer solution and contact centre services will be purely local centric and the idea is to hire and develop the local people.

“The talent coming from the state of Meghalaya performed very well and we had our teams to hire people and take them to Bangalore. The experience has always been great in terms of quality of service and quality of communication of people we hired from Meghalaya,” he said.

Jain also shared that they have shortlisted 15 locations in the whole country and their first choice is Shillong for several reasons as they have criteria – availability of talents, communication skills, infrastructure availability, cost of living, etc.

Jain further informed that the [24]7.ai has started functioning in the state and has already hired more than 250 local talents, and it will further create over 2500 direct and indirect job opportunities for local youth across the state in the next two years.