The establishment of the Information Technology (IT) Park in Islamabad will create at least 15,000 jobs for experts, students and professionals, WealthPK reports. The IT Park is being established in the suburban area of the federal capital. Its foundation stone was laid in Chak Shahzad last year by Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque to materialise the vision of digital Pakistan. The project will be completed at a cost of Rs13.72 billion. An official told media that another similar park would be set up near Karachi airport to improve the provision of workspace and allied infrastructure facilities to IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies and promote the growth of the information technology industry in the country.

Both the parks will not only resolve the issue of shortage of infrastructure for the IT sector but will also facilitate technology transfer through industry and academia linkages, support technology commercialisation, link tertiary education and production and promote research and development besides enhancing IT exports and the industry competitiveness. The official said that the projects would also help to improve the formation of IT clusters, increase export revenues and showcase Pakistani innovations and services in the sector.

“The Ministry of IT wants to establish software technology parks in small and big cities of the country,” he said. He added that the ministry’s attached department, Pakistan Software Export Board, was working to establish software technology parks in Quetta, Gwadar, Faisalabad, Bannu, Swat, Mardan and Sukkur. The official said that the sub-committee of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on IT and Telecom had put forward recommendations for the promotion of the IT and Telecom sector and the resolution of its issues.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk