A vendor selling seasonal fruit guava at his roadside setup in Federal Capital
CDA staffer repairing street light during maintenance work in Federal Capital
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial administering the oath of offices to Hon’ble Mr. Justice Athar Minallah, Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Judge of Sindh High Court, & Hon’ble Mr. Justice Shahid Waheed, Judge of Lahore high Court, as Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan at the Supreme Court
President Dr. Arif Alvi administering the oath of office to Justice Aamer Farooq as the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, at Aiwan-e-Sadr
AMI to be installed to decrease power losses in country: Dastgir
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (APP): Minister for Power Engineer Khurram Dastgir on Friday said the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) would be installed by end of the current fiscal year and it would help overcome the power losses in the country.
Responding questions at the floor of National Assembly, he said that this system was being used in developed countries and it was yielding positives results both for the organization and consumers.
The minister said that it would also help control electricity theft which was being conducted through ‘Kunda System’ in many areas across the country. The installation of this new metering system will bring a significant change in power division and also provide relief to the consumers in the shape of minimum load-shedding in their respective areas, he added.
He said that as per normal routine, the load-shedding was being observed eight hours particularly in those areas where 60 to 70 percent of bills were not being recovered but now-a-days when the electricity situation was in a better condition, approximately four to six hours load-shedding was being observed there.
He further said that it was policy of the government that there should be short period of load-shedding in those areas where the ratio of losses was low.
Expressing reservation on this new metering system, MNA Ghullam Ali Talpur said that the Power Division had made a number of experiments since so far but it could not get desired results yet.
He said that before introducing the AMI system, the division concerned installed ABC cable networking across the country on which a huge national exchequer was sent but it was failed.
Responding to the respective Member of National Assembly (MNA), the minister seconded his apprehension and said that the cable networking project was flopped due to certain reasons expressing the hope that through the AMI system, the picture would be clear that how much electricity was being used and how much was being theft against the feeder.
He said it would also improve the quality of billing mechanism as it would settle down the issue of deduction bills which was being imposed on the consumers unnecessarily and illegally in various areas of the country.
Complaining about the deduction bills, MNA Dr Darshan Lal proposed the minister to establish a ‘complaint cell’ at the Ministry level for timely redressal of the consumers’ grievances.
He went on to say that it was a persistent issue in Sindh and people had to pay extra bills against their consumed units.
Banks to get exemplary punishment for over charging on LCs: Pasha
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (APP): Minister of State for Finance Dr. Ayesha Ghous Pasha wowed on Friday to give exemplary punishment to the commercial bank who were over charging on Letter of Credits (LCs) payments.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue the minister of state said that the banks responsible for over charging would be fined heavily so that they should avoid such actions in future.
The meeting of the committee was held under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.
Governor State (Bank of Pakistan SBP) Jameel Ahmed said that when the commercial banks faced shortage of dollars they started charging extra dollars on payments of LCs.
He said that the Central Bank had thoroughly investigated the matter.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha enquired whether the businessmen who were over charged would get back their money.
The governor SBP said that they would not get their money back but action would be taken against the banks involved in the matter.
Senator Faisal Raheem proposed to cancel the license of the concerned banks.
The Governor SBP said that for 80% LCs, the banks don’t need our permission while permission for 20% of LCs was obligatory.
He said that the payments of LCs of up to $100,000 would start this month.
Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Asim Ahmad briefed the committee about the issue of dismissal of daily wages employees of Pakistan Customs in Balochistan.
He informed the committee that in Balochistan “we needed around 30 helpers adding that some employees were given employment for 3 months and some for 6 months.
He said that these were local based and engaged in contract-based employment adding that they were paid from the special fund of Customs.
The Chairman highlighted that around 15 employees of them misused their powers and on the report of the agencies, we have dismissed 15 employees.
Senator Kamran Murtaza asked FBR to provide relevant documents in this regards next meeting.
The Chairman FBR also explain the committee on containers stuck at Port-Qasim due to custom.
He said that around 2800 containers are stranded at Port Qasim due to various issues including unopened LCs and import ban.
He said that 100% surcharge has been imposed on some containers resultant the peoples do not want to take out containers by paying surcharge.
Governor SBP said that more than 500 containers have been cleared and gradually this problem will be solved.
Among others the meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha, Senators Mohsin Aziz, Faisal Saleem Rehman, Dilawar Khan, Kamran Murtaza, Kamil Ali Agha, Fida Muhammad, Hidayat Ullah, officials of Finance Division and FBR are also participating in the meeting.
HESCO will have its own transformer repair workshop by June 2023: Energy Minister
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (APP): Federal Minister for Energy, Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan, on Friday informed the National Assembly that Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) will have its own transformer repair workshop by June 2023.
The ministry has issued directions in this regard and the work has been started, said the minster responding to a question raised by MNA Salahuddin.
The minister said that HESCO during fiscal year 2020-21 spent 98.722 million on repair maintenance of transformers and during 2021-22 spent 175.899 million rupees while repairing 841 transformers.
He informed that he visited Hyderabad on the direction of Prime Minister and spent five days during early time of floods in Sindh and was shocked to know about the issues regarding repair of transformers in Hyderabad.
He told the house that HESCO had made an agreement for repair of transformers with three private companies and these companies following the guidelines of PPMS about repair and maintenance perform their job.
Unfortunately, in some of the areas people collect funds for repair and maintenance of transformers in this region and get them repaired through private vendors without following guidelines, he told the house.
He said, his ministry has issued clear directions to HESCO to establish their own repair workshop before 30th June 2023.
About low voltage, the minister said that his ministry has already issued directions to make earthing of all transformers across the country along with balancing all three phases of transformer for ensuring provision of full voltage to the consumers.
He said employees of distribution companies do not provide earth to the transformer and balance the load of three phases due to which transformer fails to provide full voltage.
Responding to another question regarding supply of free of cost electricity to the employees of power distribution companies, the minister said that according to their job agreement they are entitled to this facility however this facility can be withdrawn with the support of public representatives.
Karot project to save 1.4 mln tons coal, reduce annual emission of CO2 by 3.5 mln tons
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (APP):The Karot Hydropower Project is expected to save 1.4 million tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.5 million tons each year, Vice General Manager of China Three Gorges International Limited (CTGI) and Chairman of CSAIL Qin Guobin said.
With a total installed capacity of 720 MW and an annual generating capacity of 3.2 billion kWh, Qin Guobin said, the Karot Hydropower Project was executed under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which can meet the electricity needs of 5 million people in Pakistan and play an important role in alleviating the power shortage in Pakistan, improving its energy structure and promoting the sustainable development of local economy and society and contribute to the global goal of “carbon neutrality”.
Qin Guobin spoke at China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd (CSAIL) held a “Public Open Day” event at the Karot Hydropower Project site.
The participants included Pakistani government officials, community members of the Karot Project, teachers and students of surrounding schools.
He welcomed representatives of the Pakistani government, community members, teachers and primary school students for visiting Karot Hydropower Project.
After seven years of transformation, the Karot Hydropower Project achieved full operation on June 29, 2022. After nearly five months of smooth operation, the first public Open Day of the Karot Hydropower Project was held, which welcomed the first group of visitors.
With the theme of “Clean Energy, Karot Hydropower Project around me”, the open day event led visitors to understand and visit the spillway, dam, power plant and other facilities of Karot Hydropower Project through promotional videos, and on-site visits, and interaction with project professionals, to experience the comprehensive benefits of the power project before and after its commissioning in providing clean energy, protecting the ecological environment, integrating into the local community and fulfilling social responsibilities.
During the event, CSAIL issued appointment letters to localized employees and launched a vlogging campaign of “China Three Gorges in My Eyes” among the new employees, who had received the “China Three Gorges Corporation Scholarship”.
In addition, school bags and stationery items were donated to the primary school students, and the students drew “Karot in my mind” on the graffiti wall with paint brushes to express their interest in the Karot Project.
During the construction of hydropower project, China Three Gorges Corporation actively took the initiative to fulfill its Corporate Social Responsibility.
They have built more than 20 public welfare projects for local communities, including schools, hospitals and roads, carried out biodiversity conservation, and directly or indirectly provided more than 4,500 local jobs every year during the construction of the project.
They have sponsored 33 students under their scholarship program to complete their undergraduate studies jointly in Chinese and Pakistani universities.
The VC CTGI said the Public Open Day in Karot is a sign of openness, inclusiveness and integration. It is a vivid illustration of China-Pakistan friendship.
He said the China Three Gorges Corporation will continue to implement the goals of CPEC energy cooperation, provide more green energy for Pakistan’s socio-economic development, bring more benefits to the local people and make positive contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Diplomat wants Pakistani businessmen to exploit US expertise
PESHAWAR, Nov 11 (APP):The United States has long been Pakistan’s largest export market, importing more than $5 billion Pakistani goods that is surpassing any other country and we want bilateral economic relations to be further strengthened by inviting Pakistani businessmen to come to US and get advantage of United States expertise in different sectors.
This was stated by Nathan Seifert, Counselor for Commercial Affairs during his meeting on trade-ties between Pak-US with Member Board of Investors and former convener of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia Shahid Khan Shinwari on Friday.
The two held an hour-long meeting and thoroughly discussed Pakistan-US trade ties and exchange of visits of Pakistani businessmen to US to have business-to-business meetings with different US companies for extending trading ties and to get benefits from the US expertise in fields of business. Ayaz Ali Khan, Commercial Specialist of the Embassy of the United States of America in Islamabad was also present at the meeting.
The main products that Pakistan exports to the United States are house linens, knitted sweaters, and other clothing articles. During the last 25 years the exports of Pakistan to the United States has increased at an annualized rate of 4.79%, from $1.26B in 1995 to $4.04B in 2020. The United States is also one of the top trading partners of Pakistan.
Pakistan is importing aluminum, aircraft, spacecraft, dairy products, honey, edible products and manmade staple fibers.
Mr. Nathan said, we work closely with Pakistan on a wide array of issues ranging from energy, trade and investment, health, clean energy and combating the climate crisis. The United States has been one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Pakistan and remains Pakistan’s largest export market, he said.
Trade and investment relations between the United States and Pakistan continue to grow and the U.S. government supports this relationship by organizing business to business trade delegations, providing technical assistance, and promoting business opportunities for U.S. companies to develop U.S.-Pakistan commercial partnerships.
For more than 70 years, Pakistan has been an important partner and that is why we want that the businessmen of Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should come up to various trade expos for interaction with various US companies for expanding their business sphere.
Such direct communications with companies based in the US would help them learn more about expanding their businesses, Mr. Nathan Seifert said.
He said Pakistan is the fifth largest country in the world with regard to population and ranked as the 44th largest economy in 2022 according to IMF estimates. The United States has long been Pakistan’s largest export market, importing more than $5 billion of Pakistani goods in 2021, far surpassing any other country. The United States has also been a leading investor in Pakistan for the past 20 years. In the most recent fiscal year, U.S. direct investment in Pakistan increased by 50 percent, it is now the highest in over a decade.
Major U.S. investments are concentrated in consumer goods, chemicals, energy, agriculture, business process out-sourcing, transportation, and communications. The United States has sought to deepen commercial ties with Pakistan, including through engagement by senior officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Department of State, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) with Pakistani leaders.
However, Pakistan’s business climate has areas that needed to be strengthened, including regulation, intellectual property protection, and taxation. The United States continues to work with Pakistan to achieve business climate enhancements.
Mr. Nathan said it is good opportunity for the Pakistani businessmen to visit and interact with leading companies of the world and through that way it would help Pakistan-US to deepen trade ties. Nathan Seifert and Shahid Khan Shinwari, CEO of Shahid and Brothers, pledged to strengthen trade ties and business-to-business contacts to enhance the bilateral trade volume.
The two sides discussed a wide array of issues to foster bilateral trade and investment. Moreover, both talked about boosting cooperation in lubricant, energy, agriculture, textile and healthcare sectors as well as promotion of digital trade and e-commerce. Protection of intellectual property, promotion of labors’ rights and economic empowerment of women also came under discussion.
The US Diplomat assured Shahid Khan Shinwari to remove all obstacles in the way of visit of Pakistani businessmen and investors in the US besides a guideline would also be provided to other leading businessmen and companies who want to strengthen and expand business, trade and investment ties.
Shahid Khan Shinwari thanked Mr. Nathan Seilfert for his efforts to support and help the businessmen in expanding trade and investment ties with the US and taking advantage of available business opportunities.