Tripura will be the first state in the northeast to have an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said on Friday. He said that during a recent visit to Delhi, Union HRD and information technology minister Kapil Sibal had informed him that the northeast's first IIIT would be set up in the state.

The central government had decided to set up 20 more IIITs in different parts of the country of which five would be set up in the first phase. Tripura figured in the first phase, Chakraborty told reporters here.

Noting that cost of would be Rs. 128 crore, the minister said it would be set up in the PPP model with the central government bearing 57.5%, the state government 35% and the rest by a private entrepreneur.

At present there are four IIITs at Allahabad, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Kanchipuram.