ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP): Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong Monday expressed his heartfelt felicitations to the appointments of General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and General Qamar Javed Bajwa as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) respectively.

The Chinese ambassador sincerely wished General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and General Qamar Javed Bajwa success and looked forward to greater development of the cordial relations between the two countries and two militaries between China and Pakistan during their tenure, a press release of Chinese embassy issued here said.

Ambassador Sun Weidong also expressed congratulations to the outgoing Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on his achievements and contribution to peace, stability and development of Pakistan during his tenure.

The ambassador highly appreciated the great importance attached and valuable contribution rendered by General Raheel Sharif to the promotion of the friendship and cooperation between two countries and militaries.

He also extended gratitude to General Raheel Sharif for his support and commitment to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Ambassador Sun also expressed sincere congratulations to former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Rashad Mahmood on his achievements and contribution to the military and nation of Pakistan.

He highly appreciated the commitment and contribution of General Rashad Mahmood to the military-to-military relations between China and Pakistan during his tenure.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP): Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) Monday held a prize distribution ceremony for position hold students in sports activities of schools and colleges.

Chairman FBISE Dr Ikram Ali Malik was the chief guest who
distributed prizes among the winners of the competitions held during
20015-16.

In recognition of the services of sports committees for boys
and girls,special shields were given to them.

CHAKDARA, Nov 28 (APP): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Iqbal Zaffar Jhagra Monday conferred degrees to the graduates of the University of Malakand for 2012, 2013 and 2014 sessions here at its 4th convocation.

Some 117 graduates from the faculties of Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Management Sciences, Science, Information Technology, Social Sciences, Education and Law received their degrees and 55 were awarded gold medals.

The convocation was also attended by vice chancellors of Islamia
College University and Abbotabad University of Science and Technology, syndicate members, Commissioner Malakand Division and Prof Dr Jehandar Shah, Ex-Vice Chancellor University of Malakand.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor, who is also vice chancellor of the university, felicitated the graduating students, saying that the university had made tremendous growth in a short span of time.

He particularly congratulated the vice chancellor for attaining second position in the ranking given by Pakistan Council of Science and Technology in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He agreed to establish boys and girls hostels, particularly to facilitate students from FATA and other areas.

He asked Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Johar Ali to prepare a summary for acquiring over 300 kanal more land for the purpose.

Earlier in his welcome address, Prof Dr Johar Ali highlighted the progress made by the university in recent years.

He also mentioned both the completed and ongoing projects and the steps taken to facilitate the students.

He urged the chancellor to extend all possible support to the university in meeting its urgent needs.

The vice chancellor also congratulated the graduating students and awardees of gold medals.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP): Construction work of 296 km
Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway is likely to start before June next year
subject to receiving a workable proposal.

An official of National Highway Authority (NHA) told APP Monday
that Expression of Interest (EOI) were invited from interested
parties to qualify potential bidders for inviting bids for the project in October and last date of submission of EOI was November 15.

It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave in
principle approval for the construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway
in August and issued directives to the Chairman NHA to start work on
the project in March 2017.

The government is undertaking construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur
Motorway, on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis and its estimated
cost is over Rs 160 billion.

The motorway project starting from Sukkur will touch
Khairpur,Nowshehro Feroze,Nawab Shah, Mitiari,Hala and Jamshoro and
terminate at Hyderabad.

The motorway forms part of Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM)
which will be key part of trade corridor linking ports of Karachi
and Gwadar with China, Afghanistan and Central Asian States.
All the segments of PKM have either been completed or awarded
for construction except the Hyderabad-Sukkur motorway link of PKM
section.

LAHORE, Nov 28 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Prof. Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said that political stability was need of the hour to gain benefits and complete the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

Delivering a lecture on “CPEC, its Opportunities, Issues and Priorities” managed jointly by Study Group of the Punjab University and Mir Khalilur Rehman Memorial Society at PU city campus, he appreciated the efforts of the PU for initiating the work of supply of knowledge skill.

He said eduction was one of the priorities of the present government as the PML-N government after coming into power had raised the grant of the Higher Education Commission from Rs 100 billion to 220 billion. The 21st century was the century of economic development, he added.

The minister said that CEPC was not only a game changer but also a fate changer that consisted of four points vision including Gawader development into a model smart port city, energy sector, infrastructure development and establishment of industrial zones.

He said that $35 billion were being consumed on energy projects including producing electricity from coals. He informed that under the CPEC projects railway track and roads were being upgraded which would decrease the travelling distance between Karachi and Peshawar.

Describing the details of the fourth point of the CPEC project vision, he said that industrial zones would be set up in the country which would benefit the people.

He, acknowledging the role of Chinese said that China has always played a role of friend in need is friend indeed. He said that through CPEC projects peoples from far flung areas of the country would be empowered economically that would end the monopoly of the usurpers.

He dispelled the impression of any discrimination among provinces and said that all the provinces would equally get benefit from that $51 billion CPEC projects which would increase two to three percent of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of the country in future.

He reiterated Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s vision of peaceful environment with all neighbours to make the whole region
economically developed and stable.

The minister urged the students to work hard and better to meet the challenges of the emerging economic era in the world. PU VC Mujahid Kamran, Lord Nazir, prominent journalists including Muno Bhai,Sohail Warriach and CPEC expert Dr.Hafiz Zafar Ahmed were also among those who spoke on the occasion.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP):Pakistan Tourism Development
Corporation (PTDC) is making efforts to promote religious tourism
in the country.

Managing Director of Pakistan Tourism Development
Corporation (PTDC) Abdul Ghafoor told APP that religious tourism
could promote the country’s soft image, besides generating
economic activity.

He said the corporation was putting efforts to attract the
tourists from Buddhist countries, Sikh and Hindus from across the
world.

He said Pakistan had one of the best archaeological and
historical sites in the world.

He said that Pakistan was famous for its Indus Valley
civilisation sites at Moenjodaro and Harappa.

Buddhist Civilisation at Taxila, Swat and Takht Bai were of
great interest for tourists from Japan, Korea, Thailand and other
countries, he said adding there are prehistoric sites in the
Potohar region.

He said that Pakistan had immense tourism potential as its
rich and diverse culture was quite attractive for foreign
tourists.

Festivals like Shandoor, Sibi mela, Besakhi and Urs at
Shabaz Qalandar attract thousands of domestic as well as foreign
tourists.

He said that tourism sector was picking up as the law and
order situation had improved.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 (APP): A private sector petroleum company
Trans-Asia is going to set up a refinery having capacity to develop 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) followed by the Byco that established the country’s largest production unit in Balochistan in June last year.

“The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract is
expected to be awarded by December 2016, subject to the Project
Financial Close. After award of the EPC contract the construction
will take approximately 30 months,” official sources in the Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Resources told APP.

Trans-Asia Refinery Limited (TRL), they said, in collaboration with
Dubai was undertaking a project of relocating an oil refinery from Italy to Karachi with the capacity to refine 100,000 bpd (4.5 Million tons per annum) of crude oil.

“As per project sponsors, the estimated capital cost of the project is
US$ 750 million,” they said adding that setting up of back-to-back oil
refineries speak about the present government’s seriousness towards resolving the energy crisis and achieving self-sufficiency in this sector.

Local as well as foreign investors, they said, were reposing full
confidence in prudent and business-friendly economic policies introduced by the present government and making huge investments in the energy sector.

On June 12, 2015, the sources said, the Byco Petroleum Company had
set up the country’s largest oil refinery complex at Hub, Balochistan, with the capacity of refining 120,000 barrels crude oil per day. “The facility will increase energy security and reduce dependency on others.”

They said the country’s oil refining capacity had dropped from the 50
per cent mark, which was not considered a good sign for national economy.

Presently, the sources said, around six oil refineries were operating in the country and they had full capacity to refine the product as per needs of the country, they said adding that a lot of work was still had to be done in exploration sector to achieve autarky.

Answering a question, the sources said to scale up the production by
the local refineries, Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) was implementing the Khalifa Coastal Refinery project at Khalifa Point, near Hub, Balochistan.

The refinery, having capacity of 250-300,000 bpd (11-14 million tons per annum), is being set up with an estimated cost of $ 4.5 billion. The
implementation timelines are 60 months.

While, Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) is working to enhance its
capacity from existing 43,000 bpd to 53,000 bpd.