Public Sector Development Programme: NA body approves ministry’s budgetary proposals

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Wednesday gave approval to the budgetary proposals for projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the ministry.

The committee which met under the chairmanship MNA Ali Khan Jadoon held a detailed discussion on the projects of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication under the PSDP, and recommended all the projects for the financial year 2021-22.

The Committee was apprised that the PSDP projects pertain to infrastructure and business development which would provide enabling environment for the IT sector besides facilitation for ease of doing business.

The Committee was further apprised that human resource development was one of the components in the proposed PSDP which would channelize trained human resource towards the IT sector.

The project director Islamabad IT Park apprised that an amount of Rs3,533.67 million had been demanded for civil work, since provision of power, road access and construction of boundary wall had been ensured during the current financial year.

Apprising the Committee about the PDSP projects of Software Export Board, the managing director of the board said that Pakistan has immense IT potential which would be exploited for enhancing IT-related exports and development of business models through these projects. He said that Pakistani Diaspora abroad would be involved for acquiring IT business for Pakistanis software companies.

The registrar Virtual University apprised the Committee about its one project which related to distant learning in fields of IT, Management and Science.

Representatives of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Information Technology Boards and National Telecommunication Company apprised the Committee about their PSDP projects.

The Committee appreciated the performance of the IT organizations and extended its all out support for development of IT sector in the country. The Committee was unanimous in its view that knowledge-based economy would boost the national economy. They also asked all the organizations to focus on market-driven skill development specially the fresh graduates.

The Committee also decided to have a meeting with the Federal Board of Revenue for creating conducive environment for the IT sector through rationalizing taxes.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Sher Ali Arbab, Romina Khurshid Alam, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Naz Baloch, Syed Mahmood Shah, secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, and other officers of the concerned departments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021