ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Capital will have Information Technology (IT) Park by 2020 as a new state-of-the-art facility is being established to facilitate the sector.
Being established under financing from Korea Exim Bank through Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), the IT Park spreads over an area of 47.7 acres of land. The cost estimate for first phase is $88.25 million for which loan agreement has already been signed.
Sources at Ministry of IT on Saturday said that Software Technology Parks (STPs) are a major factor in facilitating IT companies and play a major role in development of the IT industry. STPs house IT companies and professionals and act as software factories generating software and IT exports for the country every year.
The construction of IT Park is being done in two phases on 14.9 acres of land.
It merits mentioned here that work on IT Parks in Lahore and Karachi would also be started soon.
Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has leased about 45 acres of land in Chak Shahzad in Islamabad to build state of the art IT Park.
PSEB is mandated to facilitate Pakistani IT industry and increase exports of software and services from Pakistan. One of the major functions of PSEB is to set up and operate IT parks and provide conducive and enabling infrastructure for the development of IT industry.
PSEB has been conducting surveys periodically since 2004, the survey results indicate that absence of IT parks as one of the top three concerns of IT industry.
Besides providing office space to IT companies, IT Parks are necessary for creating a platform for information exchange and linkage between academia, industry and the government.
IT Parks not only prove to be ideal research and development centers but also provide enormous boost to national economy; proven examples include IT parks in China and South Korea.
Source: APP
