With slowdown, will Hubli STP get the boot?

hubli: will the recession hitting the software industry force it giants to think twice before investing in hubli, just when the picture was looking rosy. the software technological park of india (stp) here was all set to be the launching pad for the it dreams of north karnataka region, with many small it companies availing the services of the incubation centre which has become operational here.with the incubation centre and the earth station becoming operational, the first stage of the it project in hubli is complete. however, it is unclear when the whole project will be ready. the confusion kicked up over transfer of property from hdmc to keonics corporation, in fact, delayed the project considerably. nonetheless, companies from mumbai, sangli, pune, miraj and even bangalore are finding hubli the place to login. the reason, according to ravindra kumar, member, technical staff, stp is, "after the boom, industries feel by shifting base to hubli, they can survive". when compared to bangalore and mumbai, overheads will be much less especially with regard to the workforce. however, entrepreneurs are attracted by the excellent infrastructure provided at stp which matches international standards. ravindra kumar said, bandwidth is more here compared to other big cities. he says, the incubation centre will be helpful for beginners starting off with a cash crunch. at present, quest, sharp tech solutions, mahaveer infoway, transparent technologies have already hooked their base to the centre. many more like trinity software, are negotiating for facilities. had the government speeded up stp in hubli and launched the much hyped project two years ago, then hubli would have been a major junction on the info highway. but today it companies are hesitant to make the shift. take for instance, kshema software, one of the major it companies which was about to invest crores, has decided not to do so. anil uppin, the joint director, stp, puts it succintly. he says, "it looks like 2.5 lakh sqft area is ready to get the boot."