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ISLAMABAD A statue of a charging bull - hallmark of the aggressive market trend - has been placed for the first time in Pakistan outside the new building of the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE).
Despite being the smallest capital market of Pakistan, the ISE has surpassed the Karachi and Lahore stock market in establishing a state-of-the-art building for itself, which has all the characteristics of a modern complex.
The ISE building scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday is not only an addition to the growing skyline of the federal capital, but is was also expected to become a hub of financial sector in Islamabad.
'Apart from the brokers, we have already received applications for space from all financial institutions, including banks, modaraba, insurance and other relevant fields,' said ISE secretary Ahmed Noman.
The most attractive feature of the 22-storey building, apart from the bronze statue of the bull, is the largest electronic screen installed anywhere in Pakistan.
The 15-foot high and 10-foot wide screen would not only display the trading activity and investor-related information, but the authorities also have plans to use it screen for public service messages.
Officials said the ISE was in contact with the Islamabad police and the traffic police for display of public awareness messages after the trading hours and on holidays.
However, there was a downside of this large screen, its operation was a costly affair and at a time when the country was facing severe electricity shortage, the trading screen of ISE would consume 324 kilowatt.
While the building has three basements, each with an area of 50,000 square feet, for parking lot for the employees' vehicles, the planners have not allocated adequate space for the visitors, who were expected to be in hundreds on daily basis when all the offices in the building become operational.
The ISE building has been constructed at the cost of Rs2.5 billion in less than four years and the ISE management has generated all the capital to construct the building.
However, as opposed to the other stock markets, the new ISE building has no trading hall, as trading in the stock markets are no longer held under a single roof.
'This is an era of virtual stock markets but we need to have a very strong connectivity and smooth power supply as all the work is done on computers,' said Mr Noman.
In view of high demand for telephone lines and internet connections, special arrangements have been made by the PTCL, which has established a hub of 5,000 lines.
'The whole building is connected with optic fibre and not a single internet connection is based on copper wires,' the officials said, adding that the use of advanced technology also had a price tag of Rs250 million, compared to Rs10 million for copper wiring.
The management of the exchange has also spent extensively on the safety measures, claiming that they have the best and the most modern firefighting system in the federal capital.
'The firefighting system installed in the building cost up to Rs300 million but that was needed in such a large building where so many electronic equipments would be used,' project director of the building said.
He said adequate measures had been taken to ensure backup electricity supply to the occupants of the building.
