HYDERABAD   -  Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Syed Aminul Haque on Monday announced that the National Incubation Centre (NIC) will be set up in Hyderabad by June 2022 which would provide best training opportunities to the young generation of the province.

He expressed these views while addressing “Agreement Signing Ceremony” between Ignite National Technology Fund and the University of Sindh, Jamshoro as a chief guest here at a local hotel.

At present there are five Incubation Centres (NICs) functioning in the country and the seventh center will be set up in Hyderabad, the minister said and added that technically Hyderabad’s centre will be the sixth centre as it is expected to be operational before the establishment of Faisalabad’s centre.

Announcing the creation of “Cyber City” in Sindh University at Jamshoro within two months, the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom advised the divisional administration Hyderabad to provide space in the city so that a “Cyber City” could be established for the benefits of the people of the second largest city of Sindh.

He suggested that the representation of women in the National Incubation Centre (NIC) should be kept at 40-50 percent so that more women could be trained in the field of Information Technology. He said incubators in health tech, gaming, animation and electronics were being set up in line with the federal government’s vision of Digital Pakistan and providing conducive environment for potential entrepreneurs. Therefore, to move forward, he said a National Incubation Centre was need of the hour to be set up in Hyderabad in order to improve the efficiency of various industries including agriculture, livestock, ornamental products, textiles, sugar, cement, etc. located in Hyderabad and its adjoining areas.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and the federal government are committed to empowering women in the country, so women should have equal opportunities in education and research at all levels, Syed Aminul Haque said and advised that there should be an equal representation of women in Hyderabad’s NIC, which is being set up at Sindh University’s old campus located in centre of the city. 

He said that the Ministry of Information Technology and the Government of Pakistan were committed to promote the IT sector in the country and State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and other institutions were also fully cooperating in this regard.

He said that the establishment of National Incubation Centre in Hyderabad had become a necessity for the youth of the city and its surrounding rural and rural areas to transform the traditional business approach into a form based on modern technology. Syed Aminul Haque further said that the Federal Ministry of IT and Telecom was providing a conducive environment to all stakeholders of the startup ecosystem to promote startup culture and attract foreign investment.  He said that not only Hyderabad but also the youth from Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana divisions would be able to benefit from this centre. The trend of investment in startups is increasing day by day, the minister said and added that the investment in this sector was 75 million dollars in 2019-20 which has increased to $375 million in 2020-21 with an increase of 500 percent.

He announced that 5G technology would be launched in Pakistan by the end of this year and efforts would be made to provide cheap smartphones to the people so that information technology could be promoted in the country.

Terming Sindh Local Government Bill 2021 as black law, Syed Aminul Haque said Sindh LG law was against constitution of Pakistan as all powers of the local government institutions were scraped by Sindh government.

After 18th amendment, powers of federal government were decentralised to the provinces but Sindh govt had not delegated such powers to the LG institutions as required by the constitutions, federal minister lamented.

He said that the powers vested in the provincial government after the 18th amendment should be transferred to the local government, district, town and UC level instead of keeping these powers at the Chief Minister’s House.  He said that in the last three years, Sindh government has been given about Rs2,500 billion under NFC award. He questioned that despite receiving so much funds from the centre, there was not a single union council in the province that could be called as a model Union Council.

The provincial government could not delivered in terms of providing transport facilities, water and other basic amenities to the people of Sindh, he regretted and requested Sindh chief minister to spend some of this huge amount of money on Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas so that the people could realise that they are not being discriminated. He also advised the CM Sindh to take all the parties along as it is our responsibility.