Daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, May 29: Not being able to get good response for its much hyped Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat planned at Dona Paula, the Goa government has dished out luring incentives to the IT firms.

The much hyped IT Habitat, IT minister Dayanand Narvekar's brain-child, fears to face a flop with hardly any IT firm evincing interest in it. The state government has now rolled out the incentives to woo IT giants here.

In a recent move, has amended IT policy of 2005 suggesting certain incentives for those interested in buying plots at the site. Now those IT players who employ locals, will be reimbursed an amount of Rs 15,000 per employee per annum for a period of two years of starting operations.

However, the reimbursement will come with the ceiling of Rs 75 lakh, stated sources. An additional special incentive of five per cent will be offered to companies that commission the operations before March 31, 2007.

The total land for the IT habitat is 2,47,525 sq mts. Of this 1,80,868 sq mts is for the plots. There are 24 plots, which vary from 4000 sq mts to 16000 sq mts each.

The sale of plots has been fixed as Rs 4000, which includes a base price of Rs 2500 per sq mt plus Rs 1500 per sq mt for the development cost. This price will be offered to those buyers who book their plots and pay at least 30 per cent of down payment before June 30, 2006.

For those buyers who book plots from July 1, 2006 till December 31, 2006 the cost has been fixed at Rs 2700 plus Rs 1500 for development cost. For sale of plots after January 1, 2007, the cost has been fixed to Rs 3000 plus the 1500 development cost.