Zuabir Qureshi
Islamabad
A new technology park Fazal Software Technology Park was inaugurated by the Pakistan Software Export Board, (PSEB) a department under the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication on Thursday.
According to a statement issued by the IT Ministry, the Fazal Software Technology Park is an example of public-private cooperation with 10 Information Technology (IT) companies already having occupied 40,000 square feet of space.
Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui was the Chief Guest on the occasion while among those who attended the event President ICCI and senior officials from the ministry, ICCT and Pakistan Software Export Board.
This is the second Software Technology Park (STP) inaugurated in less than 3 months. The Gilgit STP, set up in collaboration with SCO, was inaugurated in Oct last year.
Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Aminul Haque in a statement said Pakistan’s IT Industry was receiving top priority from the present government, which has been working diligently to improve the state of Pakistan’s economy, create jobs and lift overall quality of life.
As a result, the industry is being provided strong government support and extremely attractive incentives and there are several projects intended to facilitate and assist IT Industry in its growth trajectory and to ensure continued upward momentum in local and export earnings.
The Federal Minister said that the government is prioritizing the development of Special Economic Zones and Special Technology Zones in order to promote indigenization for reducing our overreliance on imports and boost our exports. For Special Technology Zones, The Ministry of IT has rolled out strong incentives which include a 10-year exemption from income tax, property tax, other taxes and custom duties. A 10-year exemption on dividend income and long-term capital gains from Investment along with exemption from GST on goods and services for consumption within zones is one such incentive. Pakistanis can rightly be proud of the fact that Pakistani IT companies are providing products and services to world’s largest companies. State of the art work on latest technologies such as AI, Robotics and Driverless cars is being conducted in Pakistan and large IT companies, including US companies have set up R & D centers in Pakistan”, said Syed Amin Ul Haque.
He stated there was strong demand for STPs in the country due to the booming IT Industry and hence there is a need to find a faster way to deliver to the IT industry. That’s how we came up with the idea of putting inoperative private sector industrial facilities to use.
While addressing the ceremony, Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui said that on the directives from Federal Minister Syed Amin Ul Haque, the aggressive work was conducted on an express basis and the result is evident by this inauguration. More good news is on the way as far as conversion of unused buildings into state-of-the-art STPs is concerned. Work is well on the way towards establishing Software Technology Parks in the Universities.
