The federal minister for science and technology, Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, told a gathering at the Karachi Institute of Information Technology on Sunday, where he was the chief guest at the inauguration of the first international multi-node video-conference by an IT Institute in Pakistan.
Under the programme, according to the minister, the government would spend Rs one billion, while the private sector would invest Rs1.6 billion. He said the programme would not only tremendously improve the functioning of the government departments, but would also help the people in various ways.
He said that laws would soon be approved for the promotion of e-governance and e-commerce in the country.
Prof Atta-ur-Rehman said that to keep pace with the mind-boggling advances in various fields of technology and to draw benefits from them, it was necessary that we set right our basic parameters.
He said that to develop IT base in the country and to increase the number of IT experts, the government would be offering a number of incentives, which include scholarships for those undertaking Ph.D in information and computer sciences.
He also announced reduction and uniformity in the fees of ISP service providers, with an across the board fee of Rs6000 US dollars for the public and private sectors. He added that his ministry was making efforts to further reduce this amount to US dollars 3000-4000.
The minister also disclosed that the government was also making efforts for utilising its last remaining chance of launching a space satellite by April 2003. He also praised the Pakistan Tele-Communication Company for spreading the internet network throughout the country, within one year. He said that last year internet facility was available only in 39 cities, while more than 520 cities, towns and villages across the country now had this facility.
He said that the PTCL had increased its bandwidth capacity to265 megabytes this year from 32 megabytes last year and was now working towards providing 100 per cent restorability and back-up facility.
Earlier, chairman KIIT, Syed Mazhar Ali said that KIIT aimed at providing the best possible education to its students and the introduction of international multi-mode video-conference facility was yet an other step in this direction.
He believed that speedy promotion of IT was the key to solution of various problems being faced by the country. He said by promoting and making better use of IT, we could break out of the debt trap, enhance revenue generation, create more jobs, ensure good governance and improve trade and the ability to compete in the global market.
During the video-conference, Panels of IT experts sitting in New York, New Jersey, London, Houston and University of Huddersfield held discussion with the KIIT panel and the two federal ministers, Prof Atta-ur-Rehman and interior minister Moin-uddin Hyder.
The event was rounded off with the vote of thanks by KIIT dean, Dr Zubair A Shaikh.