Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday said the government''s policy of privatisation with appropriate regulation was helping the business to grow to its full potential and benefit the common people.
Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of a Telecom Tower, which will be the tallest building in the federal capital, he cited the example of massive growth in the telecom industry.
"Pakistan''s telecom industry is the one success story which is the second fastest growing industry in the world after China," he said. As a result of privatization and liberalisation, the Prime Minister said there were now six cellular companies operating in Pakistan with licenses granted to the last two companies through an open auction that fetched nearly dollars 600 million.
The number of mobile phone users has crossed 13 million mark with another half a million added to it every month, he added, while noting a phenomenal change in the telecom industry where tele-density has increased from four to 11 per cent.
He highlighted the government''s policy of privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation, which had created a competitive atmosphere benefiting the consumers by lowering prices.
The Prime Minister pointed out the overseas call rates have come down drastically as a result of growing competition among the operators. He referred to the worldwide trend of privatisation and said Pakistan has to change accordingly to keep pace with the global development.
Prime Minister Aziz said, "when completed, the Telecom Tower would provide quality and world-class office space to high-tech telecom and IT industry". The plot was allocated to the Pakistan Telecom Employees Trust (PTET) 10 years ago but was lying idle since then.
The decision to construct the tower followed after instruction by the Prime minister to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to approach the people or organisations allotted plots by the government. The Prime Minister had directed the CDA to ask such people and organisations to either build or lose the plot.
Prime Minister Aziz said as a result of this move, many new buildings including that of the Stock Exchange were now coming up.
He observed that expensive land in Islamabad would encourage construction of high-rise buildings in the federal capital, but stressed those had to be energy and environment friendly. While noting momentum in the industrial sector, including construction industry, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was facing a big challenge from 1ack of skilled manpower.
He said during his interaction with business people, they all underlined lack of skilled and quality manpower as a big challenge facing them. Prime Minister Aziz regretted the huge gap between required and the available skilled manpower in the country of 150 million people.
He informed the gathering that government was coming up with a crash programme to bridge the huge gap between required and available skilled manpower, that was created as a result of neglect in past ten years.
The Prime Minister hoped that opening of new sectors in Islamabad would give a new impetus to the construction industry and real estate which were the real catalyst of growth and providers of maximum job opportunities. Ear1ier, the Prime Minister performed foundation laying ceremony and unveiled the model of the Telecom Tower.
Minister of Information Technology Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari briefed about the project work, which will start from September 9 and would take two and half years to complete. The tower would have 24 stories with four basements and spacious car parking facility.
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