Patna: One of the world's leading professional service companies, KPMG, has been appointed as the project consultant to execute information technology (IT) tower project in Bihar that entails creation of over 1 lakh sqft of space in Patna for prospective investors in the information technology sector.

The selection of the professional company has been done by the Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA), which is the nodal agency for public-private partnership initiatives in the state.

The IT tower project too is being implemented under the PPP mode and it would come on a 0.8 acre government-owned plot near Dakbungalow Chowk in Patna.

A senior official with the IT department said: "The selected consultant would make a pre-project report on the basis of which tender documents would be prepared for inviting firms which would be interested in making the tower."

The tender document, after getting government approval, is likely to be floated in March this year and the state government is aiming to finalise the concessionaire by July so that work on the project could be initiated at the earliest.

Sources in the IT department said the government intended to get the IT tower ready by December 2019 so that prospective investors could get the desired infrastructure at the earliest.

Sources said the details were being worked out at the government level about the modalities on the basis of which the private firm would be given the project and the government intended to give the private firm the space on 33-year lease.

"The government on its part would take an upfront amount and then fix an annual token amount which the private firm would have to provide to the government every year. The private firm would be at liberty to collect rent from the space created," added the source.

The private firm that would be selected for the project would have to follow the government norms in allocating spaces and in no case the space could be allocated to players who are not from the information technology field.