PSEB signs contract for first IT park in Karachi
KARACHI- The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has signed a contract with a private firm to establish first-ever Information Technology Park in this IT hub city which is expected to be operational in August.
Director PSEB Arif Khosa signed the contract on behalf of the board, while further documentary process would be completed in a week or two, sources said.
They said the PSEB had communicated the contract deal to all the departments concerned including the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) and Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). The IT parks for major cities including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore have been conceived as one-stop shop for all software houses which seek working conditions conducive to creativity, inexhaustible bandwidth and power supply, minimum regulatory overheads, maximum flexibility in choice and use of space and minimal costs.
The project companies, which will build and administer the IT park, will ensure that all these facilities are available with minimum hassle to the software houses. As per the contract details, the private company would provide all infrastructure facilities in the park necessary for software houses such as bandwidth, electricity supply, telephone lines, etc. The building chosen for the IT park, named Caesar’s Towers, covers a total area of 100,000 square feet and the PSEB estimated 100 square feet per software programmer.
Sources said in the first phase top five out of total 15 floors would be furnished for software houses, and later, it would be expanded as per requirements. The building has dual floors in the basement for car parking where more than 250 vehicles can be parked at a time. All the departments concerned are likely to start building infrastructure next week.
The Ministry of Science and Technology in the IT Policy had announced to form IT parks in major cities of the country to give a boost to software export as well as encourage local software professionals. However, it still seems a far cry as after a passage of sufficient time, the PSEB can strike only one deal in this regard in the IT hub city.
However, sources said the PSEB was in the final stages of talks with two more builders to finalise a deal for the second and third IT Parks in the city. The local software houses would get space in the parks on very competitive rates for at least one year while they can also purchase the required area.
Experts and professionals hope the setting up of the first IT park in the city, which is expected to be inaugurated in August amidst ITCN Asia 2002, would bring a sigh of relief for the industry which has been in hot waters for long, particularly after 9-11 incidents. Apart from Karachi, the PSEB has so far established four IT parks – two in Islamabad and one each in Lahore and Peshawar. Sources say the software board has planned to launch the same project in Muzaffarabad in near future.
Source: The News
Date:6/28/2002
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