Kochi, June 17 (IANS) Infrastructure at Infopark Kochi will be beefed up next week with the opening of a expressway connecting the IT park to the airport, which will reduce the commuting time to the airport and the city from the campus.

Also, 5.5 lakh square feet of built-up space will be added to the IT park to house companies.

Companies which have set up their offices and those who are planning to start operations in the Infopark have been demanding easier access to the airport, which is 22 km away.

"With the increase of companies setting up operations in Infopark, the vehicular traffic had increased manifold in the last few years. The 2.6 km stretch connecting Infopark to the Airport-Seaport road will now reduce the time to commute to the airport and the city," said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Infopark chief executive.

Infopark Kochi is the second IT Park promoted by the state. More than 60 companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and OPI Global, have set up their offices in the first phase.

"Infopark has already created a built up area of 30 lakh square feet in its first phase and in the next three years another 20 lakhs square feet of built up area will be added to the existing campus, making it capable of employing around 40,000 professionals," said Ajay Kumar, principal secretary, IT.

"By end of the decade, the total built up area in the existing premises alone will be 4.2 million square feet," he said.