Mid of February, 2012, on a very nice morning, i was not at all in a mood to visit another building in Lahore to checkout an office space for a friend of mine who was interested to shift his software house to a more professional environment then a residential building in Johar Town, Lahore.

He called me and i could not refuse to accompany him to visit a newly constructed building over Ferozpur road, named, Lahore Software Technology Park. We went into the building and before my friend could have told me any advantage of LSTP, i had already decided that I’m going to get an office space reserved for my company in that very building. 

We visited sales & marketing office for LSTP (now called as ASTP, Arfa Software Technology Park) and the sales team turned out to be very friendly. We had some general topic discussions regarding floor plans, rates etc of the building and then moved on to the 8th floor of the building to visit & inspect some small & medium size offices and...... :-) Yes, i finalized my decision that I’m going to reserve an office at 8th floor.

At that time, mid of February 2012, the marketing guys of ASTP didn’t know a lot of things. They themselves were confused about, i would rather say, almost everything. Rates, car parking, electricity backups etc. We asked a number of questions and most of them were NOT answered :-)

I don’t blame the marketing team for this, in fact, PITB (Punjab Information Technology Board) had not finalized anything at that time, so, it wouldn’t be possible for some simple sales guys to answer our technical and business operational questions. Though they were very eager to get office space reserved by companies.  

As of today, 21st March, 2012, I have booked my office at 8th floor. The friend who actually took me with him to have my views about the building has also booked his office over the same floor and as far i know about 8-10 offices have already been reserved over that floor by different software houses. 

Arfa Software Technology Park Official Information

Designed by: Jurong International Developers: Punjab Information Technology Board Status: Complete Contractors: China Construction Company Office Floors: 14 Parking Floors: 3 Location: Ferozpur Road, Lahore 

Fiber Optic, Wireless LAN / WAN, WiMax & VSAT Technologies, Global Data Center

24-Hour Central Cooling and Heating System

24-Hour Security Surveillance & Power Backup System (Triple Source Power System)

Restaurant and Cafes, Auditorium, Gymnasium, Medical Center, Prayer Halls

Indoor Parking Area for Cars & Motorcycles

PITB itself has already occupied the 11th floor of the building and CM Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif is planning to start and IT University at any one floor of the building.

8th & 9th floors are said to be incubator offices with office space of about 200 sq ft. - 800 sq ft. unfortunately, it is rumored that Mian Shahbaz Sharif (current CM Punjab) has also occupied one floor of the building as his CM secretariat and it's also rumored that he has occupied the 9th floor. 

Well, Mian Sahab, if you really have or you're thinking of making 9th floor your guest house, kindly don’t do so, because there are only two floors in the building that small offices can afford and if you occupy one of these, where will we go!!!!

As of today, the rental rate is pretty low. Rs.110 / sq ft. so if you are looking for a cool place for your IT office in Lahore, Arfa Software Technology Park is the best choice you can have.

Although ASTP has a website but just like many of Pakistan Government websites, it’s not working J You won’t find floor plan links and many other working so, just make a call over the following numbers to get more information:

+92-35918271

+92-35918272

See you at Arfa Software Technology Park soon ;-)