CPEC is the future of Pakistan: Zubair Hayat

ISLAMABAD: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the future of Pakistan, which will bring immense strategic benefits to Pakistan but a national consensus and political will is needed to move forward on the account to the next level.

This was stated by Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee while speaking at the 5th Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit 2022 “Imagineering the future”. The summit was jointly hosted by Nutshell Conferences Group and Martin Dow Group, in strategic partnership with OICCI – Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry

He said Pakistan stands among the 20 nations of high significance in the emerging new world with capabilities and vulnerabilities alike however we need to optimize our strength and move ahead in the right direction.

Pakistan needs fundamental correction to stabilize the economy as its strengths and vulnerabilities are known by everyone including the issues of taxes and the role of cartelization in the industries which is hijacking the economic benefits.

Pakistan is a country of 240 million people which is the 5th most populous country, the 4th most intelligent, and the 5th largest English-speaking diaspora having the largest digital connectivity in the land, he said and added. The country has still all fundamentals in place but these have never been put together which is a problem.

Pakistan is among the nine nuclear states in the world which cannot be boxed it has all right to secure its interest in the world mainly on the economic front, he added.

Senator Musadik Malik, Minister of State on Petroleum the development in Pakistan can be seen as a result of imaginations from the future including the building of dams in Pakistan, generation of 11,000 megawatts in Pakistan, the Lady Health Care Program etc.

Pakistan will be a changed country in 2047 with imaginations of the future and its implementation in the country is vital through consistent policies for various sectors to be rolled out without interventions.

The implementation of imagination will commence once we ensure fundamentals to our nation, he remarked. At present, Pakistan’s nation is struggling for getting basic human rights for access to education and health even in 2022, which is being taken for granted in the world.

Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Sohail Aman, Chief Executive Strategic Engagements, Nutshell Group said a few national issues should never be compromised such as the defense system of the country whereas the Charter of Economy is important in Pakistan for stabilizing the economy in the country.

Pakistan has achieved sustainability on various unimaginable fronts including building nuclear missiles and jet fighters which could reflect our potential for the development of critical and sophisticated equipment.

We can produce locally various types of machinery including automobiles and appliances through the transfer of technology, promoting research, and building bridges between industries with academia.

Book Your Tickets Online with Pakistan Railway’s New e-Ticketing System

The nearly completed status of the introduction of an e-ticketing system in the current year was revealed by Mr. Khawaja Saad Rafique, the Minister for Railways. He also mentioned that United Bank Limited (UBL) came forward with its services for the e-ticketing system and also said that A-Class banks are also welcomed if they offer competitive prices.

Online payment for the tickets via debit/credit cards, online bank transfers are available for payment of their tickets. The digital ticketing system will allow passengers to book and pay for the tickets from their home using computers or mobile phones. This system will have more seat capitalization and there will be less chance of corruption. As everything is electronic tickets are booked fast and no human interaction is needed which reduces the chances of charging more premium by railway officials in rural or distant railway stations making it almost zero.

Pakistan Railways was offering an e-ticketing service some years back. It was started in 2008 but was pushed back when new management came into picture. No details about reasons were given for the termination and relaunching of the online ticketing system. Rs.65 million are spent on the overhaul and upgrading of the Karachi Express train where modern facilities were introduced hence increasing the cost for refurbishment, said the minister. He also said that the fare was not increased and the charges will be the same for all classes as of the Business Express Train. The earnings are expected to be Rs. 3.95 million per day. He also said that several projects also those connected to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and improvements of railway stations are in progress and that Pakistan Railways is aiming at improving its facilities and purchasing of 200 locomotives in the next fiscal year.

Pak-China IT Park in Islamabad Goes to Execution Phase

A “Go Ahead” is given for the finalization of the land identified with the stakeholders and for completion of other formalities for establishment of Science and Technology Park in Pakistan to The Xinjiang No.13 Division of Construction Corp, Hami, China.

Sources revealed that Xinjiang No 13 Division asked for providing the digital map of land Islamabad city for working on the plan and the starting of the feasibility study. The details of the component companies in this venture from Chinese will be provided very soon.

The establishment of Pak-China international science and technology & commercial and logistic park in Pakistan looking at an investment to around $1.5 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was agreed to by China.

The area of construction will be in the stretch of 500 hectares and completion of the project will be a period of 10 years in 3 distinct phases of 3, 4, and 3 years respectively.

The structure of investment is equity participation by providing land by Pakistan, while the finance is from China. This is a co-ownership venture between Pakistani side and Chinese side and Chinese partners will pull in merchants and project investment. An employment generation of up to 150,000 personnel is looked at during this period.

The project has two parts:

Establishment of Science and Technology City
Establishment of Commercial and Logistics Park

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) will be undertaking Science and Technology City along with Chinese companies. A commercial and logistic park proposed to be co-owned by National Logistics Cell (NLC) from Pakistan side is also agreed upon by the Chinese.

The key functions of the Science & Technology Park are:

To provide an exhibition and developmental platform for academia and industry (local and international)
To develop knowledge-based enterprises by undertaking research based routes to the development and commercialization of ideas and technologies
To act as a knowledge provider by establishing university research and education infrastructure, applied research laboratory facilities by public bodies at the Technology Park
To be a dynamic business and trading platform for local and international industries
To showcase Pak-China commodities in order to provide impetus to the existing collaborative ventures while simultaneously encouraging new linkages
To act as a wholesale and retail market
To provide Financial support services such as through establishing venture capital entities, regional development agencies and/or banks at the Technology Park
To provide modern e-commerce platform keeping up with latest global trends
To act as an investment and financing platform for novel startups and technologies
To set-up Business Incubators and Business Development Centers, both for male and female entrepreneurs alike.

The Technology Park will be a real-estate development entity owned by the Pakistan government / COMSATS Institute of Information Technology and taken care of by qualified professionals.

It looks for supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, promotion of S&T ventures, providing interface to academia and industry and kindling the competition of the geographic environments by locating knowledge producing, adapting and using enterprises.

The positive factors behind the Pak-China IT Park are increased economic activity via investments and jobs creation, enhancing capability, making the knowledge ventures more visible, and knowledge workers knowledge workers mobility.

Rs. 3 Billion Worth of New Projects in the Next Fiscal Year – MoIT

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIT) came up with four new projects of the Special Communication Organization (SCO) under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2016-17, against a demand of Rs. 1146.8 million, according to documents, and an estimated cost of Rs. 2766.9 million.

A demand of Rs.1.333 billion for the 9 new schemes for 2016-17 was made by Ministry which includes:

IT Capacity Building of Federal Government Employees (NITB)-Rs 20 million
Replication of e-Health Services at Federally Administrative hospitals (NITB)-Rs 20 million
Research Studies and Updations for ICT Industry- Rs 51 million
IT Industry Support Programs (PSEB)-Rs 37.264 million
Expansion of Broadband Internet Services in AJ&K Phase-II (SCO)-Rs 44-4 million
Expansion of Broadband Internet Services in GB Phase-II (SCO)-Rs 32.5 million
Replacement of GSM Network of AJ&K (Project no. III/2011-2012)-Rs 580 million
Provision of Seamless GSM Coverage along KKH for Proposed Gawadar-Kashighar Economic Corridor in Gilgit-Baltistan (Project I/2014-2015) GB (SCO)-Rs 489 million
Feasibility Study and Consultancy for development of Information Technology (IT) Park at Karachi-Rs 58.287 million.

A proposal of Rs. 2457.832 million was put forward by the MoIT under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the year 2016-17 against the Rs. 922.804 marked for the current financial year. Also, two new projects for National Information Technology Board and one of Pakistan Software Development Board were proposed but none for MoITT IT wing and MoIT Telecom wing were proposed in the coming PSDP.

The PSDP for the coming fiscal year 2016-17 was prepared and sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology for consideration and recommendation with respect to MoIT and its connected departments, which is a mandate for discussion, proposals and passed by end March.

The proposed layout of PSDP for fiscal year 2016-17 is Rs 2457.832 million against 20 schemes relating to IT & Telecom sectors including 11 old/ongoing and nine new projects.

The government has earmarked Rs 922.804 million including Rs 722.804 million local component and Rs 150 million foreign component. However the data of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms shows that Rs 1342.549 million has so far been released to IT and Telecom ministry including Rs 1144.5 million foreign aid and Rs 198 million local component.

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms does not show the foreign component however, according to the Economic Affaires Division China has released Rs 1144.5 million for construction of cross- border optical fiber cable (OFC) system between China and Pakistan for international connectivity of voice / data traffic under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The government however released no amount against the replication of e-office (basic common applications) at 45 divisions of federal government, research & development unit (Islamabad) and technology parks development project at Islamabad projects.

After getting the passage from standing committee, the proposed PSDP would be presented before the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms for final consideration.

China-Pak Economic Corridor to be strengthened by E-Corridor

The e-corridor in the recent meetings with the Chinese delegation was discussed to improving the connectivity among the two countries as the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) is important to both the countries.

The CPEC Meeting

Yan Lijin, Chairman of China Investment Promotion Centre, who was leading the Chinese delegation met with Anusha Rehman, the Pakistani Minister for Information and Technology discussed ideas as to enhancing teamwork between the countries’ public and commercial sectors with respect to IT parks, electronic payments etc., and other IT services and also to enable development in the ICT sector.

Anusha Rehman spoke about the government’s interest in arriving at a Digital Pakistan and assistance from the Chinese will help in making the vision a reality.

A proposal backed by Chinese IT and innovation groups was proposed for achieving the public and private sectors partnership and a joint venture investment mechanism by the Chinese delegation and the Pakistani IT Minister assured that proposals in this matter will be quickly evaluated for ensuring transparency and conformity with the country’s legal system.

Pakistan’s IT Sector Up for the Challenge?

The potential of Pakistan in the IT and Telecom sector was noticed and the need for combined efforts for optimizing the financial output was noticed. The Ministry of IT and Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and their Chinese counterparts will be working together in all areas regarding ICT industry and technology park development.

The IT Ministry and the Ministry of Commerce are in the process of developing an e-commerce gateway for commercial projects which will also help in improving consumers’ and businesses’ trust in the online payment systems.

It was guaranteed to the Chinese delegation about international companies being invited to investing in e-commerce initiatives and Chinese parties looking to establishing Internet Payment System or an e-commerce gateway will be receiving full assistance for being a part in the e-commerce chain.

Pakistani government’s vision and efforts were appreciated very much to improve the IT and Telecom sector of Pakistan.