South Korea has provided the Pakistani government with a $76.28 million loan to help fund the development of an IT park in Islamabad.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications confirmed that the Government of Pakistan has received a loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea to cover the cost of constructing the IT Park Project in Islamabad, with the support of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of Korea, and is pursuing to apply a portion of the project’s proceeds.
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The Ministry of Finance has indicated that the bank’s contract and payment terms and conditions apply to all aspects of the loan agreement, including the guidelines for loans in investment sectors.
Unless the bank expressly agrees differently, no party other than the borrower will inherit any rights or have any claim to the loan proceeds from the loan agreement.
Eligible contractors can also apply to the Project Executing Agency (PEA) to establish the Technology Park in Islamabad, which provides ICT infrastructure and security equipment to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom.
IT park Islamabad to generate 15,000 jobs
For this IT Park, works and acquisitions are as follows:
- IT Park Building: A 66.893.643-square-foot structure with ten floors [10] and two basements [2].
- Office buildings, shareholder rooms (conference rooms, data centres), amenities and parking areas, backup power, parking facilities;
- Implementation and commissioning of ICT infrastructure and safety system, network building, data centre, video conferencing, and parking facilities;
- Fence protection, people and vehicle control systems, CCTV, and other security systems are available.
Furthermore, work and purchase timelines are expected to take 30 months.
Competitive bidding methods (single-phase two envelope-based) outlined in the EDCF Loan Procurement Guideline will be used to conduct bids.
During the construction phase of the Islamabad IT Project, approximately 5,000 direct and indirect jobs for IT experts, students, and industry-related persons are expected, with about 15,000 jobs after the IT park Islamabad is completed.