Telecoms, internet in Pakistan

PSEB, Malaysian firm to build IT parks

By Imran Ayub

KARACHI: Pakistan Software Export Board has signed an accord with a Malaysian firm to build IT parks in†Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore in a move believed to attract foreign interest in the emerging industry of the country. Official sources said the deal was part of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s directives to the Ministry of IT and Telecom, calling for urgent steps to start the construction of IT parks in major cities.

“We have signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with MDeC (Multimedia Super Corridor Development Corporation), a government of Malaysia entity, which promotes the IT†industry,” said Yusuf Hussain, Managing Director PSEB, who returned from Malaysia last week.

“We intend to build IT parks on plots of land ranging from six to 13 acres in†Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.”

He said the Malaysian visit was aimed at meeting with developers, who were interested in building IT parks in Pakistan on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, besides facilitating cooperation in other areas†including venture capital funds and trade in IT services.

“There is immense scope†for collaboration with Malaysia on IT. We also visited Cyberjaya, a leading IT city of the†world, to learn from their experiences,” added the PSEB chief.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in August this year asked for steps to start the construction of long-awaited IT parks in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, indicating the IT-enabled office space was a critical requirement for the development of the industry.

The August meeting resulted in recent visit of the information technology ministry high-ups to Malaysia, one of the fastest growing IT industries across the world. The authorities believe planned cooperation may prove fruitful for both countries.

“To jointly explore, wherever feasible, cooperative projects that can be accomplished through employing ICT (information and communication technology) between MDeC and PSEB, or between third parties identified by MDeC and PSEB, in the areas of ICT industries and multimedia or other areas as may be agreed upon by the parties, including but not limited to:

(i) the development of IT parks (ii) ICT in the logistics sector or e-logistics; and (iii) market entry facilitation for companies from both countries.” The accord between the two organisations also allowed exchange of information and sharing of ideas, wherever relevant, about strategies and best practices in nurturing the local IT industry and multimedia companies.

The country’s software exports have been on the rise for the last couple of years, crossing $70 million during 2005-06 for the first time, registering a growth of 50 per cent, as western firms started turning more and more towards Pakistan for IT-enabled services to cut costs and raise profits.

The IT industry emerged as the fastest growing sector in the last fiscal, mainly supported by phenomenal jump in call centre operations during the last two years.

More than 140 centres are currently operational, mainly in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad offering employment to around 5,000 people. Plans to build IT parks in major cities, IT players say, may further accelerate the industry’s growth. “For this year (2006-07), we have set $108 million software export target,” said Hussain, MD PSEB. “The target is inspired by the State Bank data, which showed our companies managed to export over $72 million worth of software during 2005-06 and with the same rate we should achieve the new target by the end of June 2007.”