Private sector invited to set up Software Technology Parks
ISLAMABAD- The Government has invited the private sector to set-up Software Technology Parks, (STPs), in the country with the technical and financial assistance of Ministry of Science and technology.
Addressing, a Press conference Federal Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Attaur Rehman said that the decision had been taken to involve the private sector for the promotion of Information Technology in the country.
The Minister said the bandwidth and equipment were the two barriers for setting up the STPs so the Ministry had decided to provide both these things to facilitate the private investors.
“The government would offer funding for fiber optic cable upto 5 kilometer and it would also assist in connecting STPs to PTCL infrastructure beside providing the cross-connect equipments at the STP premises”, he said.
“To set-up a STP, the operators would have to provide a minimum covered area of 30, 000 sq.ft and they would have to ensure certain facilities including uninterrupted power supply to entire building and 24 hours lift operation,” The Minister added.
The STP Operators, he said would purchase bulk bandwidth from PTCL and resell it to IT companies within the building. The bandwidth will not be sold or utilised beyond the STP building or for ISP operations.
Referring to the performance of his Ministry Dr. Atta said, within a very short period the country had progressed unprecedentedly in the field of IT. He said 435 cities had been connected with Internet during the present regime.
“We had stated with a bandwidth of 32 Megabit and now the bandwidth is 230 MB,” he said adding that the mobile connections also increased from 2,00,000 to 8,00,000 in a very limited time. He hoped that promotion of IT would improve the economy of the country. To a question, he said that the problem of poor mobile services would be solved within two or three months.
The Minister told journalists that 65 universities of both private and public sector would be provided with free Internet connections of 2 Megabit bandwidth till the end of this year.
Responding to a query Dr. Atta said that the universities were supposed to provide the Internet facilities free of cost to the students and he would write letters to Vice Chancellors to the universities to do so.
The Minister further said that National Accreditation Council, (NEC) would be established soon to check the standards of IT institutions of the country.
He said the establishment of NEC was the responsibility of the Education Ministry and it was delayed because Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, (PMDC), and Pakistan Engineering Council had raised certain objection to it.
Source: The Nation
Date:8/29/2001
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