New Delhi

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said state governments should emulate the concept of ‘Gujarat International Finance Tec-City’ and send their teams there to study the “success story” of the concept.

“The entire initiative comprises creating a social sector SEZ in a smart city. For creation of smart cities in other parts of the country, this experiment deserves to be emulated by others. Different State Governments would be well advised to send their teams to study this success story,” he said in a Facebook post.

The Gift City, inaugurated on April 10, is five minutes drive from Gandhinagar. It is intended to be a global financial hub. It will have an international financial services centre which is a financial sector SEZ.

The Gift City, a joint venture company, has been promoted on a 50:50 basis by the Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd and the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS).

It is spread over 800 acres of land, which has been contributed by the Gujarat Government for a nominal amount of Re 1.

“The first phase of the city is to be completed in 2016.The entire city would be completed in three phases concluding in 2026,” Jaitley said, adding, “It will generate thousands of jobs with all working people with families staying in the complex itself. It will be a self-contained city”.

The Finance Minister said the land has been leased out to each financial institution and other developers for a token amount.

The JV company would be paid Rs 1,250 per square feet (psf) for commercial development and Rs 250 psf for each social sector development. This will account for the initial investment made by the JV company, the cost of land and result in a net savings to the joint venture company.

“Effectively this will be a smart city with global infrastructure, a financial centre, with people living in there. This is achieved with no cost to the public exchequer,” Jaitley said.

He said the project was conceived when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

– PTI