Manoj Nair, a former senior executive director of the Dubai Properties Group, likely to be appointed as COO of SmartCity Kochi project.Kochi: As SmartCity Kochi remains a non-starter, promoter Dubai Holding has decided to appoint a chief operating officer for the project. The task is expected to be assigned to Manoj Nair, a former senior executive director of the Dubai Properties Group within the Dubai Holding.
An official announcement may be out after a meeting of the board of directors of SmartCity. This is the first time a COO would be chosen to lead the IT infrastructure project.
Nair is a native of Pune but traces his family roots to Kozhikode. He will be in charge of coordinating with the few companies operating in the park and attracting new firms. He will have a major challenge in completing the construction projections in a timebound manner.
A delegation from Dubai, including Dubai Holding chairman Abdulla Ahmed al Habbai and chief real estate officer Khalid al Malik, is expected to visit Kerala and hold talks with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to talk about the future of the project.
The investment conglomerate has said that it was going forward with the Kochi SmarCity project even though it had decided to drop similar projects in South Korea and Nigeria.
The Kochi project has been plagued by a plethora of roadblocks. The management is likely to have settled a potential lawsuit filed by Synergy Property Development Services, which was the project management consultant for the first IT building in the project. SmartCity is learned to have paid a compensation to the company but there was no official confirmation.
