ISLAMABAD: Caretaker IT and Telecom Minister Dr Umar Saif on Wednesday announced to set up 10,000 e-Rozgar centres across the country to facilitate freelancers as most of them do not have a proper workplace.

“Around 1.5 million freelancers are working regularly in Pakistan,” Dr Saif said in a statement posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The minister said the convenience of freelancers was essential for them to improve their work performance and efficiency.

“If we can facilitate one million freelancers, their earnings will be enhanced to around $10 billion annually,” he said, adding that with measures already taken including permission to retain up to 50 per cent of their export earnings and easy mode of receiving their payments the freelance activities are expected to grow rapidly.

The IT ministry has identified that the majority of the freelancers belong to smaller cities and towns while the female IT experts are mostly from remote areas where they do not have job opportunities in the relevant field.

While acknowledging that most freelancers do not have the required facilities including a work environment and fast internet in their homes, Dr Saif said that under the new policy the e-Rozgar centres will be equipped with all necessary facilities and each of them will have a capacity of 100 people to work in.

Under the scheme, the owners of buildings who want to get their properties converted to e-Rozgar centres will be granted interest-free loans to convert their real estate into workplaces.

While talking to the media recently the caretaker minister said that the most important aspect of e-Rozgar centres will be the networking and connectivity among the freelancers and the overall atmosphere will support them to go for high-end projects etc.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024