How innovative IT parks may affect Pakistan

on 16/02/2023

Karachi IT Park is the largest IT project of its kind in Pakistan, claims Amin-ul-Haq, the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication. His claim does indicate the growth of the widespread process of IT parks across Pakistan that not only offers professionals, especially the younger lot an opportunity to execute their ideas but also a way to improve the economy.
Karachi’s and Islamabad’s IT parks (costing Rs. 41 billion and Rs 13.72 billion respectively) are under construction which will create over 35,000 IT jobs.
Of them, Karachi IT Park is being tipped as a gateway for its innovation and it, as the minister reportedly claims will benefit not only the citizens of Karachi but also the IT professionals and companies of Sindh and the country.
IT Park, Karachi was approved by ECNEC in June 2021, at a capital cost of USD 186.658 million (including USD 158.416 million from Korean Exim Bank as a loan and PSDP local share of USD 28.242 million). The project, for which land has been acquired near Jinnah International, would be completed in June 2026.
The IT Park Karachi was an eleven-story (8 storeys above and 3 underground floors) self-contained building having a covered area of 106,449 square meters, a report said.
This Technology Park will provide office space to approx. 225 start-ups and small to medium enterprises and other ancillary facilities like testing laboratories, classrooms, industry-academia linkage centers, auditoriums, etc.
The government has invited the private sector to actively participate and play a frontline role to make the IT Park and other IT-related projects “big success stories.”
The foundation stone of IT Park in Islamabad was laid in Chak Shahzad on May 6 by Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque, fulfilling the “Digital Pakistan Vision.” The project would be completed in 30 months with a total cost of Rs 13.72 billion.
The park would not only mitigate the shortage of infrastructure for the IT sector but also facilitate technology transfer through industry and academia linkages, support technology commercialization, links tertiary education and production, and promote research and development; besides enhancing IT exports and industry competitiveness.
IT Park Islamabad would consist of a twelve-storey (two basements or ground floors plus 10 storeys) self-contained building having a covered area of 66,893 square meters.
Islamabad IT Park would initially provide office space to around 120 start-ups and small to medium enterprises and other ancillary facilities like testing laboratories, classrooms, industry-academia linkage center, auditorium, etc.
Currently, Pakistan has 15 software technology parks; three in Islamabad, two in Rawalpindi, eight in Lahore, and one each in Karachi and Gilgit.
Pakistan wants to establish software technology parks in small and big cities of country. Pakistan Software Export Board is working to establish software technology parks in Quetta, Gwadar, Faisalabad, Bannu, Swat, Mardan, Sukkur, and Hyderabad. Moreover, an IT Park for the University of Balochistan costing Rs 1 billion and the provision of fiber optic cable for Tehsil Wadh of District Khuzdar are under consideration. — ER

Turkish company, NUST
explore scope for partnership

on 16/02/2023

A high-profile delegation, led by CEO of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) Temel Kotil, called on Rector NUST Engr Javed Mahmood Bukhari at NUST last week.
Members of senior management from NUST also attended the meeting, which was aimed at exploring new avenues to strengthen collaboration between NUST and Turkey in areas such as joint research, the establishment of research facilities, student and faculty exchanges, academia-industry linkages, etc.
CEO TAI said that Pakistan being a brotherly country is our first preference for outreach. He also expressed his desire to recruit talented engineers and scientists from NUST to work on cutting-edge projects of TAI. Rector NUST remarked that NUST provides a comprehensive knowledge ecosystem based on a Quadruple Helix Model, where the presence of industrial R&D centers and labs like Turkish Aerospace Industries holds paramount importance.
Later, the guests visited the NUST School of Interdisciplinary Engineering & Sciences (SINES), where they were conducted at various labs, and apprised of robust and impactful research and innovative solutions churning out of the School that draws upon interdisciplinary strengths of NUST.

PES IEEE Karachi
holds seminar

on 16/02/2023

The 6th Technical Seminar of the year 2022, organized by Power Engineering Society (PES), IEEE, Karachi R10 was held at sunset club in mid-December 2022.
The topic of the seminar was “Condition Monitoring of Generators & Motors”. Ghulam Murtaza appeared as the presenter with a total of 22 participants in the moot
Condition Monitoring of large generators and motors is a very important tool in predictive maintenance for machines and plants.
By collecting and analyzing certain signals from motors/generators, etc. developing faults and inefficiencies can be identified, and unplanned downtime can be avoided.
Online Condition Monitoring is one type of Condition Monitoring that emphasizes the continuous monitoring of a machine or any production process.
Online Condition Monitoring is a non-interrupted process.
There is no word like ‘Shut-Down’ in Online Condition Monitoring.
Online Condition Monitoring helps the users to pre-estimate the cost of faults and figure out the level of the fault,
Condition monitoring systems provide important benefits from a financial, operational, and safety perspective.
Engr. Ishtiaq-ul-Haq, Chairman PES, IEEE, Karachi R10 chaired the seminar.

Peshawar, Bannu industrial parks
get approval

on 16/02/2023

The Small Industries Development Board (SIDB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has approved four industrial parks in the province.
Communication of the board said the Board of Directors (BoD) of the SIDB KP accorded approval to the establishment of four new industrial parks beside the master plan of the board.
The board has further directed the management of the SIDB to publicize plots in the Peshawar industrial Park with immediate effect besides local, overseas investors should also be given the opportunity on a priority basis.
The board has also identified prioritized sectors for the establishment of units in the Peshawar industrial Park that include agriculture, surgical, sports, carpet manufacturing, solar panel, mobile phone, automobile, and cycle manufacturing units.
The board has also been directed to ensure land acquisition for the Small industrial Park Peshawar and another 1,250 Kanal land for the Small industrial Park Bannu near Kasho Bridge connected to china Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route as soon as possible.

Unity of Engineers
as a Nation

on 16/02/2023

The infrastructure to the socio-economic life cycle of any country lies in correlation with its engineering sector. Engineers are like the building blocks in the development of any country and nation. Unfortunately, in Pakistan engineering is weak and in the most deprived condition at the moment. Many engineering societies, organizations, and groups are portraying their struggles to revive the engineering sector. But on the contrary, no tangible steps have been taken by any of these well-established and greatly funded organizations. The members of these organizations are mostly young engineering graduates or students. But the heads of these organizations are obsolete and belong to the archaic school of thought which makes them the weakest pillars of the engineering sector.
Pakistan is in dire straits economically, financially, and socially. At this time this nation needs to be uplifted in every aspect of life. We can say this time, these hardships could be a blessing in disguise. Because nation-building process starts usually when the nations face difficult times, which could be dangerous for their existence
Almost every engineer got the same repentance as the whole community is facing similar issues but failed in propagating their voice as a whole just because of lack of unity. The word “Unity” doesn’t means having huge representation on roads only but it also means uniting the thoughts and channelize them through different platforms in the most effective ways devised by the engineers themselves. We as a nation are diverted from our roots and in the same way every community is also fractionated in terms of different belongings, different universities, even for different political beliefs, highs, and lows under the umbrella of different organizations with almost same manifestos. In order to eradicate these divisions we all have to rethink our mindsets and clean the mind lens. But this time based on similarities as we all want to see development in every sector of our country. We all want to be independent, we all want to see the happy faces of engineers, we all want to see our country competing with the first world, and a lot more similarities from our appearance to our thinking and beliefs. These similarities should be the basis for a rethink because it will convert these divisions to integrations by eradicating a few dissimilarities and hence the nations will start building up.
My humble message to the of my whole engineering community of Pakistan is “Let’s join our hands together as the profession needs us. Together we can change the fate of this reeling engineering profession just by changing the way of our thinking, the approach towards dealing with the differences, the real recognition of politics in engineering disciplines or at the country level, and by distinguishing the good from the bad.