Internet access to open new avenues for rural youth: CM

Internet access for rural communities will support the economic development of the country, said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Giving rural youth access to information and e-suite services including healthcare, e-finance, e-agriculture, and e-education, will enable them to compete better in the job market besides opening income generation opportunities in villages, he said.

CM Murad was speaking at a contract signing ceremony between Universal Service Funds (USF) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) for laying Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) in Dadu, Jamshoro, Badin, Hyderabad, Larkana and Kambar and Shahdadkot districts at a local hotel of the city.

The event was organised by the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication. Federal Minister IT & Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Additional Secretary IT Mohsin Mushtaq, President and Group CEO PTCL and Ufone Hatem Bamatra, and consul general of different countries were also present at the occasion.

"There was a time when technological advancements and economic conditions in some parts of our country were at a crucial stage. To overcome the challenges, and in line with the vision of a digitalised Pakistan, the federal IT Ministry through Universal Service Fund (USF) has been running diverse projects which are playing a significant role in the socio-economic development of our people," said the CM.

He said that as digitalisation has become a priority for businesses and communities, the ministry of IT & Telecommunication aims to connect all the citizens of Pakistan.

Under its Next Generation Optic Fiber (NG-OF) Network & Services programme, the USF has contracted over 16,000 km of OFC to benefit 31.5 millionPakistanis.

By providing access to information and e-suite services, such as healthcare, e-finance, e-agriculture & e-education, Ministry of IT and Telecommunication was enabling the rural and remote communities of the country to not only compete better, but also to support the economic development to bring a positive impact on the national GDP while contributing to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Ministry under the leadership of its Minister Syed Aminul Haq was awarding contracts for three more projects. He said that these projects would achieve the objective of providing access and connectivity to the rural and remote communities of Sindh.

This project launched for over PKR 5 billion and will benefit a population of approximately 4.2 million people living across 207 unserved Union Councils (UCs) and Towns, Murad Ali Shah said.

He said that these projects have also been designed to connect 686 educational institutions, 212 health facilities, 276 government offices, and 1,367 telecom towers within a five KM radius of the node. Mr Shah said that the project would also improve the lives of people, create job opportunities for them, empower women as well as young girls along with many other benefits.

Earlier, Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq highlighted achievements of his ministry and vowed to increase the export of IT from $2.5 billion to $3 billion. On this occasion, the CEO of PTCL Hatem Bamatraf, and the CEO of USF Harris Mahmood, signed the contract.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2022.