Data centres in Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Why did the Admin express interest and withdrew it later
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration has withdrawn an Expression of Interest (EoI) for a private-sector-led green AI data centre project just four days after its publication. The administration cited 'administrative reasons' for the cancellation of the proposal, which aimed to leverage the islands' strategic location for digital infrastructure.
Why it matters
The sudden withdrawal raises questions about the feasibility and planning of large-scale digital infrastructure projects in ecologically sensitive and strategically important regions.
The story so far: Within days of calling for feasibility proposals for a private-sector-led green AI Data centre in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the administration has withdrawn the Expression of Interest document it published this month. While the administration had said it was exploring private-sector interest in building such a project near Little Andaman and Great Nicobar Island, it has cited “administrative reasons” in withdrawing the EoI just four days later.
In the EoI issued on August 10, the A&NI administration stated that feasibility proposals may include solutions for “renewable energy powered data centre operations” that use “freshwater-free” cooling solutions, such as “seawater-based or other innovative cooling systems”. The EoI noted that it was calling for proposals for “hyperscale and/or AI-focused data-centre infrastructure; GPU and high-performance computing infrastructure; cloud computing and sovereign digital infrastructure”.
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