NITB working on project to make Islamabad a Smart City, Senate Body informed

ISLAMABAD, Mar 27 (APP):Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was informed on Wednesday that National Information Technology Board (NITB) was working on a project to make Islamabad a Smart City.

The basic objective behind this programme is ensure progress on basis of technology.

The meeting, chaired by Senator Rubina Khalid, was also
apprised that the NITB wanted to execute the programme from
one or two sectors of Islamabad.

It was further informed that 18 licenses have been issued
to mobile phone assemblers and most of them are stationed in
Azad Jammu and Kashmir due to tax holiday facility Senator Rubina Khalid said this was a good development that industry was being established in the country.

In a breifing, Secretary Information Technology and
Telecommunications, Maroof Afzal said assembling and
manufacturing were done in phases.

The meeting was further apprised that incentives packages
were quite important to bring mobile manufacturing companies in
the country.

The committee Members said that mobile phone was no
more a luxury but a necessity, therefore, the government
should rationalize tax structure on mobile sector.

The committee decided to summon Ministry ofFinance and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in next meeting to have a briefing on mobile taxes and new mobile phone registration system called Device, Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) as people are facing inconvenience.