The Pakistan Software Export Board, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board, and the University of Science and Technology Bannu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the first-ever software technology park in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The MoU was signed on Wednesday by Osman Nasir, Managing Director, PSEB, Prof. Dr. Khair Uz Zaman, Vice Chancellor, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, and Dr. Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, MD, KP IT Board.
Syed Amin Ul Haq, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Muhammad Atif Khan, Minister for Science, Technology and Information Technology, KPK, Dr. Sohail Rajput, Federal Secretary for Information Technology, and senior officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication attended the signing ceremony.
Syed Amin Ul Haq, the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, spoke at the event and stated that Pakistan’s IT industry has had substantial increase and export growth. To produce comprehensive economic growth outside of Pakistan’s major tech hubs, the current administration is focused on the development of the IT industry in secondary and tertiary cities.
The initiatives taken by the Federal Ministry of IT and Telecommunication to realise the objective of a digital Pakistan, according to Atif Khan, KP Minister for ST&IT and Food Department, are commendable. He stated that the KPK administration wished to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications to promote IT.
The MoU for the establishment of a Software Technology Park in Bannu, according to Dr. Sohail Rajput, Secretary IT, is a major achievement because it covers multifaceted cooperation in terms of establishing a software technology park on the university campus, facilitating startups and freelancers, and improving industry-academia linkages for holistic growth of the IT industry.
PSEB’s MD, Osman Nasir, stated that seven software technology parks totaling 153,949 square feet have been established since January 2021. He informed that work on establishing software technology parks is well underway at universities such as Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) Karachi, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, and Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Sciences & Technology University (QUEST) Nawabshah.
According to him, Pakistan currently has 19 software technology parks totaling 1.2 million square feet that provide state-of-the-art facilities to technology enterprises.
Overall, the construction of a software technology park in Bannu is a promising initiative that can have far-reaching positive effects on the local economy, skills development, innovation, and digital infrastructure. It is a step towards promoting the growth of the technology sector in the region and driving progress in the country’s digital landscape.
