HYDERABAD: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecomm­unication Syed Amin ul Haq has said that his ministry has set a target of 70pc IT investment growth i.e. $3.5bn for 2022-23 now when it has already achieved 47pc growth. An amount of Rs8.48bn had been spent in “unserved and underserved” areas of Sindh in terms of connectivity, he said.

The minister was speaking at a ceremony for the signing of an agreement between the Sindh University, Jamshoro, and the Ignite National Technology Fund at a local hotel on Monday for the establishment of 7th National Incubation Centre (NIC). The centre will be established on the old campus of Sindh University in the city.

Mr Haq said that technically it was the 6th NIC as the Faisalabad NIC was still in the process of coming into being while the ministry wanted to complete the Hyderabad NIC by June this year and make it functional, he said.

‘70pc investment growth target to be achieved this fiscal’

He said students from other divisions — Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Larkana and Sukkur — would benefit from the Hyderabad NIC. The IT ministry wanted to serve everyone without any discrimination, he added.

The NICs would enable youths to become self-employed as IT involved multimillion businesses. “We plan to connect students from Sindh with digital world as best as possible,” he remarked, and said that 2019-2020 witnessed an investment of $75m which rose by 500pc to $373m in 2020-21.

He said he was interested in setting up a software technology park on Sindh University’s Jamshoro campus within the next two/three months. “World is changing fast and we need to introduce our children and students to this changing world through artificial intelligence and digital technology. We need to harmonise our youth with new technology,” Amin ul Haq said, and added that the federal government, IT industry and academia needed to be on one page in this regard. He said that new BS level courses should be introduced for students so that they could find jobs in US and Europe.

The minister said that the IT ministry was going to ensure an improved connectivity with 3G, 4G and optical fibre technology in unserved and underserved areas of the interior of Sindh by spending Rs8.48bn. Funds amounting to Rs31bn had already been spent for improved connectivity in the country, he said.

He pointed out that IT investment had risen to 47.44pc and noted that such a growth was not seen in any other sector. “We plan to achieve 70pc growth (or $3.5bn) in investment in the new fiscal year,” he said.

Mr Haq said that his ministry wanted companies to come up with a smart phone costing Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 with the version currently costing Rs100,000 to Rs150,000 so that people of far flung areas like Dera Bugti and Tharparkar could afford it easily. He said that the ministry would also make the parliament “cyber efficient” and “paperless”. Hopefully, 5G service would be available in the country by December this year or January next year, he added.

Controversial LG Law

The federal minister, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said that Sindh government had amended the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 thus making it a “black law”. He said the federal government rejected it. He asserted that the chief minister house should not keep accumulating powers. Powers should be devolved to lower level as local governments were the third tier of governance as defined in the Constitution. If powers were devolved to LGs, this would help the institution resolve people’s issues at local level, he added.

The minister noted that federal government had transferred around Rs2,400-2,500bn to the Sindh government over the last three years. “But can the Sindh government show even a single model union council here?” he asked, and said that all areas were hit by issues like lack of amenities including electricity, transport and water. “You will have to think. Whether people will keep travelling in motorbike-driven rickshaws in this modern age?” he said. The Sindh CM should take a cue from the IT ministry and serve people of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas as well, he said.

‘IT ministry has increased exports’

Federal IT secretary Dr Sohail Rajput said that the current account deficit always increased due to trade deficit considering the fact that Pakistan’s exports were lesser than imports and that’s why IT ministry was focusing on increasing investment in the IT sector to help lessen current account deficit.

SU vice chancellor Prof Dr Siddique Kalhoro appreciated the ministry’s idea of Hyderabad NIC and said it would attract youths from upper and lower Sindh regions equally. He said it would help youths to depend less on government jobs and become self-employed.

MNA Sabir Kaimkhani and Ignite CEO Asim Rehman also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2022