The Government of Tamil Nadu planned to establish an Information technology (IT) Special Economic Zone in the late 1990s to cater to the growth of the industry. The government assigned TIDCO and ELCOT for the planning of the project.[2] In 1996, suitable locations were scoured and plans were made to utilise eight acres of state land in Taramani. The foundation stone for the construction was laid on 21 August 1998.[2] The building was constructed by Hyundai Engineering.[5] It was inaugurated by then Indian prime ministerVajpayee on 4 July 2000.[2]
Financials
The project was built at an estimated cost of ₹3.2 billion (equivalent to ₹14 billion or US$170 million in 2023).[3][5] The project had an equity share of ₹0.94 billion (US$11 million), of which ₹0.4 billion (US$4.6 million) was held by the state government. The project has a debt to equity ratio of 2.4:1 and the remaining cost was financed through debt.[5]
Design
The building has a built up area of 1,280,000 sq ft (119,000 m2) including about 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) of office space.[5] The park was amongst the first and largest IT parks in South Asia.[3] The building is divided into eight sections, four each on north and south sides of the structure. The front and back sections are separated by an atria in the middle.[4] The building has 13 floors including the ground floor and two additional basement floors. It is equipped with 19 elevators and 2 escalators.[1] The design of the building provides office space of various sizes ranging from 4,000–9,000 sq ft (370–840 m2).[8]
Several other TIDEL Parks have been established across the state. In 2010, a TIDEL park was established in Coimbatore. Spanning 914,000 sq ft (84,900 m2), it was built at a cost of ₹4.07 billion (equivalent to ₹9.1 billion or US$110 million in 2023).[2] The park was built on a 9.5 acres (3.8 ha) plot near arterial Avinashi road in Peelamedu.[11] Conceived in August 2006, foundation stone for the Park was laid in February 2007, and the construction began in September 2008. The park has five floors apart from three underground floors.[12] In 2024, the Pattabiram Tidel Park was opened in the western suburb of Pattabiram in Chennai. The 21-storey building spanning across 557,000 sq ft (51,700 m2) was constructed at an estimated cost of ₹2.85 billion (US$33 million).[13]
The state government has planned to expand the existing TIDEL Park in Coimbatore on an adjoining 9 acres (3.6 ha) plot at a cost of ₹2.5 billion (US$29 million).[14][15] Parks have also been planned at other cities such as Madurai, Tiruchirappalli.[16] Smaller neo parks have also been planned in Tiruppur, Vellore, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, and Sivagangai with the first such park inagurated in Villupuram in 2024.[2]
