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PESHAWAR, (MANEND NEWS): Provincial Minister for Science and Technology and IT Mohammad Atif Khan, said on Monday that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would build a new academic and residential block in Ghulam Ishfaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology.
He was addressing the students’ graduation ceremony after inauguration of the Catalyst Technology Incubation in GIK Institute.
The two gatherings were also attended by Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, SI, Rector GIK Institute Sardar Aminullah Khan, Pro-Rector Admin and Finance, Prof Dr Wasim A Khan, Pro-Rector Academics, deans, directors, provincial secretary of Science and Technology, Dr Ambar Ali Khan, Dr Faisal, advisor to the minister on science and technology and Dr Sajid Shah, director-general of science and technology and various other officials.
Addressing the ceremony, Atif Khan said that the provincial government would extend complete financial support to GIK Institute and some of its projects would be included in the current financial year and the remaining in 2022-23 annual development program.
He also announced that KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan would visit the Institute very soon to inaugurate the girls’ hostel
Mr Atif who also remained KP education minister said that the government has worked on boosting the linkages among the industry, academia and government. “This (improving linkage) is our first and foremost priority,” he said.
“Whenever I visited GIK Institute I was so much impressed that my belief strengthened that Pakistan would soon be economically prosperous and financially sound. The students and academia work hard here,” he remarked.
He said that only those nations are strong who developed indigenous technology and those lagging behind in this field faced numerous problems and confronted different challenges.
“The development of science and technology is very critical for development in various other fields. If I was having the power I would divert all development funds to the field of science and technology,” he said, adding that development of the nations is linked with the achievements in the field of science and technology.
He said that the Education Technology Project would be set up in Mardan, Swabi and GIK College.
He said that the KP government has planned to build a Science Museum which would cost Rs 500 million.
Earlier the minister visited the incubation centre and exchanged views with the students about their projects. He said that he was really impressed by them, especially the manufacturing of drones for utilization of spraying of different crops and orchard.
Director incubation Centre Abdullah Soomro apprised the minister: “We could build our own drone within the next six months if we have the resources. At present we are getting drone making materials from the US and China. A single drone costs Rs 1.5 million. But the indigenously manufactured one can save a lot of foreign exchange are resources.”
He also visited the academic block which cost Rs 1 billion provided by the provincial government.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Khalid said that the Institute would submit proposals about the electronic center, Technology incubation centre, reverse engineering, micro hydro-project, building another girls hostel, special technology zone, climate change and education technology project.
“We wanted to be an active partner of the provincial government and ready to play a role in making a cluster of engineering universities in the province,” he said.
At the end the minister gave away certificates to outstanding graduates.
It is worth mentioning that High-speed internet and telecom projects worth Rs11 billion were recently approved for Kumrat, Shangla and Dadu during a meeting of the Universal Service Fund (USF) board.
The projects will benefit more than 4.4 million people in these areas.