KARACHI: Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) Minister Aminul Haq on Monday launched a mega IT park project in Karachi, which is expected to be completed by 2026 with an estimated to cost of $189.6 million.
The project, which sprawls over 760,000 square feet, would provide state-of-the-art facilities to national and international IT firms, according to the Pakistan’s IT and telecommunications ministry. It would create more than 20,000 job opportunities.
South Korea’s Exim Bank would provide $158.416 million loan for the project, while the remaining $28.3 million would come from the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
“The project was approved by ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) in June last year and after its completion this IT park will be a gateway to innovative future and to strengthen the country’s economy,” Haq said at the launch.
“The park was part of the Digital Pakistan vision and the purpose of these parks is to provide a place where innovative businesses could develop and prosper.”
The minister said the benefits of such facilities were not just limited to enterprises and tenants, but firms outside the parks also profit from them. These projects help boost the knowledge-based economy, entrepreneurship and promote latest technologies, he added.
In the last four years, Haq said, his ministry through the Universal Service Fund had launched 70 projects across the country at a cost of $294 million.
Speaking of IT exports from Pakistan, he said the volume of these exports had reached $2.62 billion that showed 47 percent growth, besides 30 software technology parks (STPs) were established across the country under the public-private partnership.
“With an increase of 800 percent, the amount of investment for Pakistani startups has reached $818 million in four years,” Haq said.
In recent years, he said, Pakistan issued licenses for smartphone manufacturing and the manufacturing of digital devices was now a reality in the South Asian country.
“As I am talking to you today, there are 29 mobile phone manufacturing companies operating in Pakistan,” the minister added.
The South Asian nation, entirely reliant on imported mobile phones prior to 2016, has produced 16.7 million phones from January till September, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Local assembling of mobile phones in Pakistan was made possible after the implementation of Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) launched by the PTA in 2018.
DIRBS has since been instrumental in controlling smuggling of mobile devices, in addition to providing safeguards against security hazards and encouraging local manufacturing.
