PM orders immediate access to Sky 47 data center for all federal institutions

July 30, 2026 (MLN): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to take immediate and effective steps to extend the facilities of Sky 47, the newly established federal government-run national central data center, to all federal institutions.

 He also called for an early meeting of the National Digital Commission to take provinces and other stakeholders into confidence on the policy, APP reported.

The directives came as the prime minister chaired a review meeting on the implementation status of the National Digital Vision.

 The commission, formed under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025, is chaired by the prime minister and includes all provincial chief ministers as members.

The meeting was attended by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, National Health Services Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, and State Bank Governor Jameel Ahmad, along with senior officials from concerned institutions.

The prime minister said a single, integrated national data center for the public sector would give a centralized platform for the data of all government institutions, doing away with the need for separate data centers and generating significant savings in national resources.

He noted that the Pakistan Digital Authority was steering an active and transformative direction for government services, social systems, and citizen-centric service delivery in particular, and stressed that implementing a national digital vision aligned with contemporary requirements was essential to building an integrated society.

He directed that the vision be rolled out first in health, agriculture, utilities, housing, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to ensure timely delivery of improved public services, adding that its full implementation would let citizens access a wide range of services  including document verification, banking, healthcare, and transfers  through a single digital identity on a unified platform.

Participants were briefed that, per the prime minister's directives, the National Digital Vision is already being rolled out in agriculture, food, health, energy, housing, and SMEs, with work underway across 14 additional priority sectors expected to lift sectoral performance and benefit the broader economy, industry, and commerce.

Officials said the housing-sector rollout would introduce a centralized identification number for all public and private properties, while the SME-sector application would establish a unified system of unique legal business identities to help boost national productivity.

The meeting was told that all legal, administrative, and institutional steps needed for full implementation were being expedited, drawing on the input of global experts, international institutions, and internationally recognized best practices.

The prime minister added that effective implementation of the integrated digital policy would strengthen international partnerships and ensure Pakistan's effective representation at global forums, and that full rollout  in consultation with all relevant institutions and federal and provincial governments would align decision-making, institutional performance, and transparency with international standards.

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