Pakistan, South Korea ink Rs10b loan pact to build an IT park in Islamabad

The 42-acre state-of-the-art park will have a data centre and capacity to accommodate over 100 IT companies

Pakistan and South Korea on Tuesday signed a loan agreement of Rs10 billion to build first state-of-the-art Information Technology Park in Islamabad, Radio Pakistan reported.

The loan agreement was inked by the Ministry of Information Technology and Korea Exim Bank as part of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's vision of Digital Pakistan.

Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said the Islamabad Park, spreading over 42 acres of land, will have a data centre and capacity to accommodate over 100 IT companies.

Further, the IT minister said the modern technology park would be an integrated facility and help realise the dream of digital Pakistan. “After Islamabad, international standard information technology parks will also be set up in Karachi and Lahore.”



While witnessing the signing ceremony, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar said, “The government has a clear programme to a digital and financially inclusive Pakistan.”

It was during the previous tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that the Awami Markaz building in Islamabad was converted into a software park and now a proper multi-purpose park is to be established with the assistance of South Korea, he added.

“Pakistan looks forward towards Korea for closer cooperation,” Dar said. At the same time he pointed out that Korea also helped construct Pakistan's first motorway; the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway.



The representative of the Korean Exim Bank said his institution decided to cooperate with Pakistan in the field of IT in view of the vast potential of the country in the sector.

There are over 2,000 IT companies in Pakistan and universities are producing hundreds of thousands of IT professionals, he added. “The Korean Exim Bank is ready to contribute towards socio-economic development of Pakistan.”