BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A coalition of private businesses and state and local government officials say they have a plan to entice big, high-tech companies to relocate to southwest Idaho.

The group of more than 100 individuals and companies said it will officially launch the Eagle-Star Technology Corridor, called ESTech, on Jan. 24. The plan calls for attracting high-tech companies to some 79,000 acres near Eagle and Star.

Lloyd Mahaffey, chairman of ESTech, said California has many high-tech companies that might consider looking at southwest Idaho.

"You fish where the fish are," Mahaffey told the Idaho Statesman. "I think I can show any high-tech company in California that they should move to Idaho."

Backers of the plan say Idaho offers lower taxes, affordable housing, and fewer transportation problems than some other large cities.

Backers also say the area has an educated work force that includes hundreds of high-tech workers who in the last year lost jobs with Micron Technology and Hewlett-Packard but who want to state in the area.

One company that has already made the move from California to southwest Idaho is Ugobe, a robotics company that relocated from Emeryville, Calif., to downtown Eagle earlier this month.

"Companies in the Bay Area of California keep losing people to 10-man companies in Wisconsin and Wyoming," said John Sosoka, co-founder of Ugobe. "For some people, money is not the big thing. Here we're minutes away from skiing, snowboarding, mountain climbing and kayaking. And if we have a problem at work, you can walk around the hills and talk it out. Where else can you do that?

"A company gives its employees an immediate break as soon as it decides to move here."

However, challenges remain. Bob Bruce, chairman of the ESTech Real Estate and Infrastructure Committee, said high-tech companies rely on communicating with fiber optic cable.

"There is not as much fiber in the ground as I thought there would be," Bruce said of the proposed technology corridor area.

Also, the current economy could make it difficult for companies to move.

"The last time I checked, the technology industry was not expanding," said John Glerum, director of Boise State University's Technical and Entrepreneurial Center, which helps high-tech startups write business plans and find capital. "And relocating takes money."

Also, the state needs to spend more money on higher education to make sure the state's three universities produce enough engineers to attract out-of-state companies, said Pat Shannon, dean of the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University.

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, is an ESTech supporter. He said the state has done some things to help attract new companies, such as allowing county officials to exempt an incoming company from property taxes for up to five years.

He said the state should next cut Idaho's corporate and personal income tax rates, but that could be difficult in the upcoming legislative session given that the state's economic problems. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has ordered state agencies to cut 4 percent of their budgets, or about $130 million, and delay spending another $54 million due to the sputtering economy.