Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday pushed the agenda of digital transformation at the historic launch of Digital Northeast 2022 in Guwahati, which was released by Union Electronic and Telecommunication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in presence of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
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He told the gathering that the State Government has approved an amount of Rs 35 Crores for construction of Phase-I of the Shillong Tech Park Building.
This building is located at the sprawling 80 acres Tech Park campus in New Shillong Township.
Out of this 80 acres of land, an area of 10 acres has already been handed over to the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) for construction of its campus, the foundation of which was laid on Saturday by unveiling a digital plaque at Guwahati.
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The Technology Park Building Phase-I, which is scheduled to be completed by 2020, will have about 1200 seats.
These seats will be made available to IT and ITeS companies to setup their operations, which will open up employment opportunities for the local youths.
The Phase-I building will also have facilities earmarked for incubation centers, skilling centres and centres of excellence.
Besides these, an area of about 5000 sq feet will be available for setting up of a data centre.
“The availability of skilled manpower, government land, infrastructure and a salubrious climate makes Shillong an ideal destination for setting up a Regional Data Centre. By 2022, I expect that all 80 Acres of the Shillong Technology Park would be fully occupied with direct employment opportunities for at least 12,000 of our youths”, the Chief Minister said.
He informed that the Government has made investment in ICT component in education sector with the support of ADB funded project – Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya, wherein 117 school buildings are being constructed.
Each of these schools will be equipped with computer labs, smart class rooms and digital libraries with rich content and well trained teachers, he added.
“Our ICT investments and initiatives in education are paying rich dividends and by 2022 we expect our youths to be able to take full advantage of the Digital India & Digital North East Programmes of the Central Government,” he informed.