The document states that the federal government has cancelled a number of Special Communication Organization (SCO) projects that were included in PSDP 2023–24.
The Federal Government made the decision to exclude significant projects from the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) from the current budget due to a lack of funding.
The document states that the federal government has cancelled a number of Special Communication Organization (SCO) projects that were included in PSDP 2023–24.
One of the NTC projects called “Feasibility Study for Establishment of National Data Centre and Social Media Application” does not have funding from the federal government. The project was approved by DDWP on May 27, 2021, and its total cost is Rs. 483.5 million.
In a similar vein, the federal government declined to provide funding for the NTC project known as “Establishment of Data Centre at Karachi.” The MoITT had proposed Rs. 456.6 million in allocations for the financial year 2023–2024, out of a total cost of Rs. 1,522 million for this project.
The federal government reportedly also abandoned the PSEB project titled “Animation and Gaming Industry Development.” The project will cost a total of 198.28 million rupees, and MoITT had suggested allocating 100 million rupees for the following fiscal year.
The Establishment of IT Park Phase-II PSEB project has also been abandoned by the government. Additionally, the establishment of Quetta’s IT Park and the “Train the Trainers Bootcamp in High-End Emerging Technologies” PSEB projects have been cancelled by the government.
The NTC project titled “Long Haul DWDM Core Transmission Equipment” in PSDP 2023–24 has also not yet received funding. The project will cost a total of Rs. 2,524.3 million, but MoITT had suggested only Rs. 757.3 million for the following fiscal year.
The “Expansion of Optical Transmission Network” SCO project has also been abandoned by the government. The project will cost a total of Rs. 3,500 million, and MoITT proposed allocating Rs. 500 million for the following fiscal year.
The document stated that the government has dropped new schemes named “Expansion of Cellular Services in Unserved/ Underserved Areas of AJK and GB phase-iv”, “Expansion of Hybrid Power Solution at ICT sites for AJK and GB Phase-II”, “Feasibility Study for Migration of IB&CSS System to Convergent Billing System Phase-II” and “Implementation of Critical Telecom Data and Infrastructure Security Regulations Phase-I”.
Only one new Special Communications Organization (SCO) project, called “Expansion of GPON FTTH Services in Eleven New and Existing Cities Phase-iv,” has received funding from the government. The government has allocated Rs. 50 million under PSDP 2023–24 towards the Scheme’s overall cost of Rs. 800 million.
For this project, it is anticipated that foreign aid will bring in an additional sum of Rs. 10 million in 2023–2024.