KARACHI, Dec 8: The Adviser to Chief Minister for Information Technology, Noman Saigal, said 400 police stations in the province would be connected to each other through information technology where citizens could file their complaints via email.

Sindh government would undertake 17 to 18 IT projects in the province, including e-policing, e-village, vehicle testing units, FIA project, installation of surveillance cameras, smart budget hotels, e-gaming and others, he said.

The adviser was speaking as a chief guest at a conference on ‘Emerging IT Telecom Synergies: challenges & opportunities,’ jointly organised by the Board of Investment, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Sindh IT Department, Pakistan Software Export Board, ISP Association of Pakistan and Pakistan Software Houses Association, at the Expo Centre on Friday.

Referring to the progress achieved by China in IT sector, Saigal said China was competing with European countries, and added, “We need IT to improve and grow, which can play a major role in development of the country.”

He said the project of computerisation in Civil Hospital Karachi was completed in six to eight months.

Mentioning that there is no coordination and communication between districts in the interior of Sindh, he said e-village project was on the cards to facilitate villagers.He said the project of internet media city would be initiated as earlier as possible. He said the government had earmarked 200 acres in this regard and handed over the land to IT department.

He said the World Bank funded project vehicle testing units worth US$550 million would also be started soon, as Malaysian company had already been given the contract.

The adviser said 800 surveillance cameras costing Rs300 million would be installed along the main corridors of the province.

Regarding establishment of 3-star Smart Budget Hotel in the province, he said initially French firm would establish 12 hotels in various districts, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur. He said the hotel in Karachi would be established in Gulshan-i-Iqbal town. He said Wyi-Fyi system would be available in rooms of these smart budget hotels and it would charge Rs1,800 to Rs2,000 per night per room.

He said other projects like vehicle tracking system and controlling of traffic system of Karachi would also be launched.

Later, Dr Mehboob-ul-Haq of PTCL, Aon Ashraf Rana of the Pakistan Software Export Board, Parveen Thakur of Oracle Corporation, M Ozair Rasheed of Teradate NCR also spoke.—PPI