ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has allowed release of Rs 5 billion for one-time utilization of ICT R&D Fund as bridge finance for digital information infrastructure (DII) to be recouped by the Finance Division in last quarter of CFY.
On November 10, 2023, Ministry of information Technology & Telecommunication (MoITT) briefed the ECC that Pakistan ICT infrastructure was the key component of the country’s cyber space and was prone to cyber-attacks. Implementation of this initiative was crucial to mitigate the challenges of cyber-attacks by protecting national critical information infrastructure.
The digital information infrastructure initiative is aimed at providing requisite technical capabilities to proactively identify potential cyber threats on the national critical information infrastructure besides blocking of cyber security incidents/breaches in real time.
DII project: ECC approves Rs5bn as bridge finance from R&D Fund
The MoITT apprised PM Office about the implementation modalities of the project, and MoITT was directed to consult with all the stakeholders. Subsequently, relevant stakeholders (Finance Division, MoITT, PTA & relevant LEA) held sessions to firm-up the implementation mechanism of the project. Caretaker Finance Minister also chaired meetings in this regard, and it was agreed that MoITT would act as the coordinating Ministry for initiative while PTA and the relevant LEA would be the implementing agency.
A steering committee of concerned stakeholders would also be constituted for governance of the initiative. Various options for funding were explored, and the Finance Division intimated that since the proposed initiative was not budgeted in the current financial year, therefore, there was no availability of funds in the CFY.
The PTA noted that the revenue receipts, collected from the industry, were deposited in the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF).
MoITT apprised that there was no availability of USF Funds with MoITT as bulk of these funds had been retained in the FCF by the Federal Government since 2013 while the remaining amount had already been budgeted for various projects. It was discussed that “Research and Development Fund” may have some provision of funds which could be utilized for the initiative through bridge financing, which could then be recouped by the Finance Division in the latter part of CFY.
Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication further informed that the case of bridge financing from the R&D Fund to the tune of Rs.5 billion for the said initiative was placed before the Policy committee meeting of R&D Fund chaired by the Federal Minister for IT&T.
It was discussed that in accordance with the provision of section 33D (2) of Telecom Act 1995, the initiative was in line with the objectives and purpose of the R&D Fund.
However, as the Policy Committee had a limited and specific mandate, it was resolved and recommended that a one-time bridge financing of Rs.5 billion would be made from the R&D Fund for purpose, to be recouped by the Finance Division in Q4 of CFY, subject to approval by the ECC/Federal Cabinet. It has been confirmed by Finance Division that the funds of Rs.5 billion made available as bridge finance from the R&D Fund, for the initiative, would be recouped in Q4 of CFY.
Ministry of information Technology & Telecommunication requested the ECC to approve the recommendation made by the Policy Committee of R&D Fund, ie, release of Rs.5 billion for the ICT initiative as bridge finance, to be recouped by the Finance Division in last quarter of CFY.
After discussion the ECC accorded approval of the proposal of Ministry Information Technology and Telecom.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023