Thirty-three schemes of IT and Telecommunications worth more than Rs. 5.480 billion have been proposed for the next financial year.
These schemes include 31 old and two new schemes, for which the Government of Pakistan will provide Rs. 4,438.696 million, whereas Rs. 1,042 million will be funded via foreign aid.
According to the budget document, Rs. 100 million has been proposed for certification of IT professionals through Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and Rs. 80 million has been proposed for Crime Analytics and smart policing project. Rs. 50 million has been proposed for demand-driven industry, and Rs. 179 million have been allocated for the establishment of the data center for providing cloud-based services in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
The government has allocated Rs. 243 million for the establishment of the Sino-Pak Centre of Artificial Intelligence as well. An amount of Rs. 200 million has been proposed for the expansion of broadband services in AJK and GB. Rs. 100 million and Rs. 300 million has been proposed for expansion of cellular services in AJK and GB and phase 3 and high skill boot camp in Islamabad and Karachi, respectively. Rs. 80 million each is proposed for the national expansion of National Incubation Centres (NICs) across Pakistan and the national freelancing program. In addition, the government has proposed Rs. 20 million for one patient one ID and Rs. 102 million for project monitoring and digital transformation cell.
Allocations have also been proposed for protection and up-gradation of Pak China OFC project, smart office, standardization of IT Industry, Technology Park development project, up-gradation of existing TDM, up-gradation of the transmission network, and replacement of optical fiber cable in GB and AJK.
Old schemes also include the establishment of 25 Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs), general data protection, regulation, compliance management system, hybrid power solutions for Special Communication Organization (SCO) remote sites in AJK and GB, ICT Internship program, president initiative for cyber efficient Parliament, raising smart capital through the private trading market at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). These projects also include strengthening of ICT infrastructure and office automation at the President Secretariat, a technology export marketing program, a blended virtual education project, cyber security for Pakistan, the establishment of an IT park in Karachi, and a national center for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Two new projects have been proposed for the next financial year. Rs. 50 million has been proposed for implementation of critical telecom data and infrastructure security regulations phase one and Rs. 50 million have been proposed for the expansion of optical transmission networks in AJK and GB.
What about freelancer incentives that were supposed to be discussed a week ago? Will they roll back PTI’s incentives for freelancers (tax exemption, forex outward remittance, etc)?
Please do an update on this.