TIP included in privatisation list, NA body told

The government has included Telephone Industry of Pakistan (TIP), which is incurring millions of rupees losses to the national exchequer annually, in the privatisation list.
This was revealed before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, which met here with Ali Khan Jadoon in the chair on Monday.
The committee chairman asked why the land of TIP is not being used in Haripur. The officials of the IT Ministry replied that TIP has been included in the privatisation list. The secretary said that a plan is under consideration and, according to which, the land would be allocated for mobile manufacturing units.
The TIP has 432 kanals of land and infrastructure and skilled manpower, but the current as well previous governments have failed to come up with any revitalisation plan. It is currently on the privatisation agenda of the federal government.
The committee was further informed that the government will formally start negotiations with the EXIM Bank of Korea for establishment of Technology Park in Islamabad at an estimated cost of $88.383 million.
The government is expecting to get a loan amounting to $76.31 million from Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of EXIM Bank of Korea @ 0.1 percent for 40 years with 10 years grace period.
The committee was further informed that around 81 percent work of the boundary wall has been completed on Technology Park in Islamabad, while places would be identified for building such parks countrywide. Earlier, people had gone to the courts and were not ready to vacate the land due to which the project got delayed. The project was approved in 2013; however, it is expected that the boundary wall project would be completed by end-June 2019.
The committee decided to write a letter to Capital Development Authority (CDA) for cooperation in this regard.
Recently a parliamentary panel was informed that consultant procurement would be completed next month after which the project design would be completed in six months while the overall project is expected to be completed in 44 months.
Secretary MoITT Marood Afzal said that there are five IT parks in Rawalpindi/Islamabad and eight in Lahore and Karachi. A study project has been planned regarding the IT parks. There was land issue for IT park in Balochistan; however, the Balochistan IT board has procured land for the purpose.
The committee observed one minute silence to express sorrow over the terror attacks in Sri Lanka.