President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Muhammad Nasir Khan here on Friday hailed the efforts of present government which is taking keen interest for the promotion of Information Technology and as a result there are above 60 million users of mobile in the country.
Talking to newsmen here in his office, he however, said that after the implementation of General Sales Tax of 15 percent on computer products growth rate in the sector is declining.
"Growth of I.T Industry can be only possible by cutting the cost of getting quality computer for science education where possession a PC for every student should be affordable and possible", he observed. He appealed the government to waive off taxes from computer firms and manufacturers of hardware for the period of ten years to promote the sector.
Nasir Khan said that there is a big gap internationally between demand and supply of quality computer, science graduates in particular and I.T professionals in general.
In order to achieve Billion Dollars software export target in the possible time "we need at least hundred thousand graduates every year". "It is surprising for us that there are only 10 percent schools and colleges offer computer education in Pakistan", he observed.
Government, he said, needs a investment of roughly Rs 20 billion to make facilities available in all existing public-sector high schools/colleges. "If all existing middle schools are also to be covered then the investment amount would have to be around Rs 60 Billion", he added. President ICCI Nasir Khan also demanded the utilisation of 100 allocated funds for the promotion of I.T from various Ministries.