Kathmandu. The government is going to build information technology parks in Kathmandu Valley and Butwal.
Finance Minister Varshman Pun, while presenting the annual budget for the next financial year 2081/82, said that using private and government buildings in Kathmandu Valley and Butwal, an information technology park will be created with high-speed internet, electricity and security infrastructure.
The government has announced that it will provide free of charge for three years to use the facilities in the park to operate the ‘workstation’.
A lot of structures are going to be built in Charkhaal of Dillibazar to run a state-of-the-art information technology hub in public private partnership. Finance Minister Pun has allocated Rs 17 crore for the construction of Knowledge Park at Khumaltar in Lalitpur. The knowledge park of Khumaltar was included in the budget earlier. However, it has not been implemented.
The government has included in the budget a provision that government agencies should give priority to the use of domestically produced software. Similarly, Pun said that the government data center will be upgraded. He also said that standards will be made for data centers operated by the private sector.
Internship in the IT industry will be arranged for the students who are studying undergraduate and postgraduate subjects in information technology.
The government has announced to develop Nepal as a hub of information technology. Finance Minister Pun has announced that the IT industry will export 30 trillion rupees in the next 10 years.
With the goal of creating 500,000 direct and 1000,000 indirect jobs during that period, the government has declared the next financial year as the departure year of the information technology decade.
Interpreting information technology as a key sector of the economy, Finance Minister Pun has said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be developed, promoted and regulated.
Pun said that along with policy stability in the information technology sector, reliable high-speed internet service, data security and protection of intellectual property will be ensured.
The announcement to amend the Digital Nepal Framework has been repeated in this year’s budget. Finance Minister Pun has allocated a budget of 59 million rupees for that, saying that institutional arrangements will be made for its implementation and monitoring.
