A request letter for the site plan and mutation for developing the first phase of the Information Technology (IT) City Karachi has been sent to the Sindh Board of Revenue’s Land Utilisation secretary, whereas preparation of tender for selecting a developer for the project’s master planning is under way.
The IT City Karachi would be built on a 200-acre parcel of land – two blocks of 100 acres each – that is already in the possession of the IT Department.
The main objective is to build a cluster-concept city, which would comprise IT infrastructure and facilities to help the provincial government become a regional centre offering IT enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO).
The tender process for constructing a boundary fence and site office has been completed and a work order has been awarded to a private limited company, Nawab Brothers, which has initiated mobilisation of equipment at the site after signing an agreement.
The monthly progress report for August submitted to the chief secretary by the IT Department disclosed that a consultant/project management company, Data Communication & Control, is working on the project with good pace.
Moreover, the tender process for the office equipment has been completed and the successful bidder, Ora-Tech Systems, has delivered the required equipment.
The total cost of the first phase of developing the IT City Karachi has been estimated at Rs 148.71 million, and in the previous financial year, the expenditure was Rs 16.976 million – Rs 11.18 million revenue and Rs 5.796 million capital.
Total allocation of funds for the current fiscal year is Rs 131.618 million – Rs 98.77 million revenue and Rs 32.848 million capital – of which Rs 29.699 million have been released so far.
The main objective of the first phase of the project is to secure the land parcels from land mafias and prevent encroachment to ensure that there are no roadblocks in developing the city.
Therefore, it has been proposed that the land parcels would be protected by erecting barbed wire fences around their boundaries.
The second objective is to develop a complete master plan for the city that would include a detailed model of the project, analysis and planning from urban perspective, and environment and infrastructure particulars.
Similarly, the foreign direct invest plan would include presentation to potential investors, which is vitally important as the city is proposed to be built on public-private partnership basis.
