IT Parks Drive Youth Job Growth

News Desk

Islamabad: As digital growth accelerates, Pakistan is on the verge of establishing a dynamic network of state-of-the-art information technology (IT) parks designed to provide young professionals with a platform to execute their innovative ideas and contribute effectively to the national economy.

These IT parks are anticipated to generate significant employment opportunities for IT professionals, attract substantial foreign investment, boost the IT industry and increase exports.

An official from the Ministry of Information Technology highlighted that the foundation stone for an IT park in Islamabad, assisted by Korea, was laid in Chak Shahzad as part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ‘Digital Pakistan’ vision.

“This project, with an investment of Rs 13.72 billion, aims to address the infrastructure deficit in the IT sector. It will facilitate technology transfer through industry-academia linkages, support technology commercialization, link education with production, promote research and development and enhance IT exports and industry competitiveness,” the official added.

Islamabad IT Park

The Islamabad IT Park will feature a twelve-story building (including two basements or ground floors and ten additional stories) with a covered area of 66,893 square meters. It will initially provide office space for around 120 start-ups and small to medium enterprises, as well as facilities like testing laboratories, classrooms, an industry-academia linkage center and an auditorium.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during a meeting on ongoing IT projects, digitization efforts, and strategies to increase exports, emphasized that the completion of the Islamabad IT Park would significantly boost the country’s IT exports and serve as a milestone towards achieving the $25 billion IT export target. The Prime Minister also directed efforts to reduce the project’s completion time in consultation with Korean experts.

Broader IT Strategy

Under the Prime Minister’s vision, various institutions and departments are collaboratively working on projects to elevate Pakistan’s IT exports to the $25 billion mark.

Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, stated that the government is building IT parks in Islamabad and Karachi, with the Islamabad IT Park expected to be completed by March 2025, creating approximately 10,000 jobs.

E-Rozgar Centers

In line with the government’s digital strategy, over 250 E-Rozgar centers are being established across the country in collaboration with provincial governments and private institutions. These centers are intended to provide essential facilities to skilled youth in smaller cities, enabling them to access digital opportunities.

The distribution of these centers will be based on each province’s population and data from the 1.2 million freelancers registered with Ignite. Punjab leads the initiative with 149 centers, followed by Sindh with 51, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 28, Islamabad with 11, Balochistan with 6, Azad Kashmir with 3 and Gilgit-Baltistan with 2.

Originally launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab, the E-Rozgar centers have already proven highly valuable, benefiting millions of young people. These centers provide affordable access to IT skills and enable young professionals to enter the digital workforce, further supporting the growth of Pakistan’s IT sector.