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  • Stakeholders calls for revoking decision

    EDB is a must for engineering industry, believes FPCCI

    In a series of concern in the country, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has expressed concern over abolishing Engineering Development Board (EDB), calling for its continuity with more effective and transparent role for promoting engineering industry, especially auto industry in Pakistan. At FPCCI communication said Zubair F. Tufail, the president called a meeting of the stakeholders including automobile, automotive and auto spare parts associations at the Federation House to discuss the issue of abolishing EDB.  The meeting noted that the EDB was playing a fundamental role in promotion of engineering sector, protection of domestic industry and strengthening it by giving incentives. The closure and shifting responsibility of the EDB would disrupt large-scale manufacturing; especially the auto industry and would further complicate the situation including creation of impediments in investments in auto sector especially the vending sector, they said.  The EDB was an affiliated department of the Federal Ministry of Industries. It was established in 1995 with an aim to strengthen engineering sector, promote exports, increase technical training and enable import substitution. The board had presented two auto policies — in 2007 and 2016- which enhanced the number of auto assemblers from 3 to 55. The stakeholders urged proper implementation of auto policy, which would develop competition and bring opportunity of technology transfer. They also stressed on transparency, efficiency, expertise and merit in the EDB to fulfil objectives of strengthening engineering sector in the country and integrate it with the world market to make it the driving force for economic growth as the future of Pakistan depends upon the industries particularly on engineering, chemical and information technology industries which has a huge potential for contributing to economic growth and employment generation. Mr. Tufail assured that they would try to convince the government to continue with the EDB with complete restructuring of its Board of Directors by including representatives from private sector, Board of Investment (BOI) and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).

  • Thar Airport ready for landing

    Built on desert sand dunes makes it unique in Pakistani airports

    Pakistan’s very first desert airport Thar Airport—is almost ready. You can land there provided flying a smaller aircraft. It is situated in the middle of Mithi and Islamkot, on a 20-minute drive from either city. The airport can cater to around 50 passengers. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah anxious to fly to Thar became the very first dignitary to land at the airport which has been built for foreign coal concessioners intending to visit coal blocks in Thar Desert. Thar Airport is comprised of four works such as the runway, taxiway, terminal and residential blocks. All are complete except the terminal on which work will be completed by September 2017, said Khalid Mirza, the CEO of the ECIL—the consultant of the project which has planned and designed the airport. The total cost of the project is Rs.23 million. The project started in 2008 and later the construction of the runway was awarded to Ms. Reliance which could not move ahead because of its shabby performance in the past, officials in Sindh government said. The company is said to have used its political clout for getting the project as it did not have any previous experience in construction of runways. Due to delays, the government decided to change the contractor—the decision which pushed Ms. Reliance to approach the court. The work on the airport was stayed till 2016 and eventually resumed with the new contractor Umer Jan & Company after which the court allowed the project to proceed. Engineer Bux Ali Abro said the airstrip of the airport, constructed by the contractor is 7000 meters long and 300 meters wide with taxiway and apron. It has an overrun of 975 meters. The work on the terminal is in progress on an area of 456 square meters. At least 9 units are complete which include parking area, guest houses, a shed, officers’ accommodation and a mosque etc. All land for future planning has also been acquired. Sharing their experiences Engr. Khalid Mirza and Engr. Bux Ali Abro said it was a new topography for the airport as it is in the midst of sand dunes. Thar has a collapsible soil where the sand dunes move and the sand caves in. Thus, a specific technique used on such soils has been adopted. The ECIL has also worked on other airports including one in Rahim Yar Khan which was constructed by Shaikh Zaid. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will run the airport. The Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the CAA for the monitoring of the project too. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is also likely to use this airport.

  • Kachhi Canal to be ready in August

    WAPDA Chairman Lieutenant General (R) Muzammil Hussain has said that Kachhi Canal project will be completed in August 2017. The project, which started in 2002, was almost abandoned due to grossly cost and time overrun for various reasons. He said the federal government’s support and excellent work by the Wapda engineers re-energised the project. The authority he said was planning to release water into the main canal gradually during current month from its head regulator located at Taunsa Barrage in Muzaffargarh district to test the canal and its structures. Thereafter, water will be discharged to the distribution system for irrigation in August. He said that 72,000 acres of virgin land will be irrigated in August this year. Kachhi Canal is a vital project to ensure economic development and social uplift in the far flung areas of Balochistan by promoting agriculture and agro-based economy. With completion of Kachhi Canal project, Balochistan will be able to draw its share of water from the Indus River System, people in the area will cultivate their lands and accrue the benefits, he added. During the visit, the Wapda chairman had a detailed round of the various sites and witnessed pace of construction work on the project. Earlier, the chairman also visited Chashma Barrage, and Jinnah and Chashma hydel power stations. Different issues relating to the two hydel power stations came under discussion. In addition, detailed deliberations were also made to enhance efficiency of Jinnah and Chashma hydel power stations.

     

  • Why MD NTDC was removed

    The federal government has removed Managing Director, National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry reportedly for failing to complete CPEC-related projects on time. The Board of Directors of the company adopted procedure under Companies Act 2017 under sections 190(1) and 190(2) and unanimously decided to remove Dr. Fiaz. The board appointed Zafar Abbas as new MD of the company. He was working earlier as director, NTDC. Dr Fiaz who was appointed on June 30 last years an electrical engineer with over 31 years of experience in power sector. The BOD, reports said had noticed that the interconnections of main projects of CPEC like 500 KV Port Qasim line, 220 KV Gharo line, 500 KV Rahim Yar Khan-Moro line (3rd Circuit) had not been handled in proper way and thus jeopardized completions of full transmission of new generation. Also, delay in 132 KV line Patrind hydropower project added up fuel to the fire as it caused damages to the tune of Rs200 million per month.  Similarly, non-provision of appropriate evacuation for wind projects, generation is being curtailed resulting in Rs329 million capacity charges penalties on the power purchaser. On removal of key system constraints to allow full flow of power in 2017 for which comprehensive exercise was conducted by the ministry in 2016, the NTDC missed major timelines. Resultantly, the system witnessed critical shortcomings during the month of Ramazan. An NTDC handout said national transmission stabilisation remained a major challenge which could not be achieved. Moreover, the situation in southern part of the country was further aggravated resulting in the system collapse on 1st and 2nd Ramazan plunging large parts of southern grid in darkness. The situation was further compounded by the frequent collapse of 500 KV circuit towers due to lack of maintenance as per SOPs. The response to restore the system was highly dissatisfactory resulting in discomfort to the consumers.

  • کچھ لفظوں کی کہانی۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ سو شل

    امی ابو کہتے ہیں رشتے داروں سے ملا کرو اچھے برے وقت میں رشتے دار کام آتے ہیں

    مجھے رشتے دار اچھے نہیں لگتے میں سوشل میڈ یا کا دیوانہ ہوں

    فیس بک پر ڈھائ ہزار دوست ہیں، ٹیوٹر پر تیس ہزار فالوورز ہیں ، بیس واٹس اپ گروپز کا ممبر ہوں

    آج میرا جنازہ ہے، میرا خیال تھا کہ ڈیڑھ دو ہزلر لوگ تو آئیں گے لیکن یہ تو صرف ساٹھ پینسٹھ لوگ نظرآرہے ہیں، وہ بھی  سارے رشتہ دار۔ میں نے فرشتہ سے پوچھا ایسا کیوں؟

    تیرے اماں ابا کی مہربانی ہے ورنہ چار مزدور بلانے پڑتے تیرا جنازہ اٹھانے کے لیے

    سوشل میڈیا پر ہونے اور سوشل ہونے میں فرق ہے۔ لوگوں سے ملنا اور ان کے دکھ درد میں شریک ہونا پڑتا ہے۔ لوگوں کو وقت دیتے ہیں تو ان کا وقت ملتا ہے۔

  • Four companies get nod for auto plants

    The federal government has granted permission to four automobile companies to set up their assembly/manufacturing plants in Pakistan. In June, three companies were granted permission by the government, a move that would result in a total investment of $372 million. The government is expecting a total of $2 billion to make its way into the country as the number of companies interested in setting up their plants goes up. As per estimates, one plant needs an investment of around $500 million and all four auto manufacturing plants are believed to invest $2 billion in the industry.” In July, two more firms will be allowed to set up plants which is expected to attract around $1 billion as investment. A total of nine companies had applied to set up new manufacturing plants of them four have been granted permission whereas two are in process of completing documents. It was earlier reported that United Motors Private Limited, Kia-Lucky Motors Pakistan Limited and Nishat Group, which is collaborating with Hyundai, have been granted permission. Moreover, the official said that Regal Automobile Industries Limited Karachi has also been given permission. The remaining five entrants who have applied include Habib Rafiq Private Limited, Khalid Mushtaq Motors, Pak-China Motors, Foton JW Auto Park, and Cavalier Automotive Corporation.

  • Pakistan ensures $8 billion for ML-1

    Linking Gwadar with railways networks is underway: Saad Rafique

    Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has urged the Islamic Development Bank and Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Trade and Development Bank to promote investment in railways to ensure better connectivity among ECO states. “I have already talked to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and would urge IDB and ECO Trade and Development Bank to contribute to economic and social development of the ECO region,” said Rafique, while addressing the 9th high-level working group meeting of ECO Container Train on Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul route. He said that the government is determined to provide sovereign guarantee to IDB and the consortium and may provide financing terms of trade to Pakistan from Quetta/Taftan section connecting Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. “We have already arranged approximately $8 billion financing to upgrade the main line ML-1 with the Chinese institutions. Arrangement of finances for linking Gwadar with railways networks is also underway.”The minister said that in 2015 the overall GDP of the ECO countries was $4.7 trillion and total intra-ECO trade volume stood at only $58 billion, which was far below its true potential. “I am confident that the target of ECO union 2025 will be realised through trade, transportation and cross border movements and infrastructure improvement.” He informed that Pakistan Railway is working on a master plan to upgrade its three main arteries; ML-1 from Peshawar to Karachi, ML-2 from Attock to Kotri and ML-3 from Quetta to Taftan and from Iran and Turkey. The minister said that poor condition of railways track from Quetta to Taftan is a major bottleneck in regional connectivity and onwards to Europe while the rail links from Chaman to Spin Boldak to Kandahar and onwards connecting to Turkmenistan is also under consideration. “This will ensure that Gwadar sea port is used to its full potential to transport goods to Afghanistan and landlocked Central Asian Republics.”

     

  • NTC signs Telenor for Online Services

    The National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and Telenor Pakistan have signed an agreement for provision of telecom services to NTC customers across Pakistan, through their mobile network. Under the agreement between NTC and Telenor, Telenor will provide services like internet dongles, mobile handsets and SIM cards to provide 3G/4G GSM and data services in areas where NTC infrastructure is not available. The signing ceremony was attended by Brig (r) Viqar Rashid Khan, MD NTC, and Irfan Wahab, CEO Telenor Pakistan. NTC is the official IT and telecom service provider for the Government of Pakistan and has been granted Integrated LDI License to provide ICT services to armed forces, defense projects, federal government, and provincial governments or as the federal government may determine. Telenor Pakistan has reported a subscriber base of over 36 million, making it Pakistan’s second largest mobile operator. It is the first operator in Pakistan to establish a Cloud Based National Data Center for the public sector. The corporation has witnessed unprecedented financial growth of 359 percent during 2015-16 and an increase in broadband subscriber base by 36 percent. It has extended its services from 54 districts and cities to 87 including underdeveloped districts in Sindh and Baluchistan.  The number of exchanges were increased from 139 (in 2012- 13) to 260 in 2016, thereby overall 87% increase. It utilized 99 percent of its ADP budget in FY 2016-17. Also, NTC is the first to use M2M and P2P networks for extending fixed lines and data connectivity. NTC has already resumed the international gateway operations. Large scale Wide Area Networks of CDNS, Election Commission, State Bank, AGP and other strategic organizations have been established. Pertinent to mention that, NTC has also signed a Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) with Microsoft to provide SaaS in the country through its cloud based National Data Centre. NTC is pursuing strategic partnership with private operators in the telecom industry to bring new services for its subscribers. The Chairman said NTC is the first in the country to introduce new apps like Go-Smart for its customers and have extended 3G/4G Mobile data connectivity to its subscribers under public private partnership. MD NTC further briefed about the future plans and projects of NTC. These include establishment of strategically vital submarine cable landing station at Gwadar as an alternate route to existing network. NTC further envisions expanding its network to all districts of Pakistan within the next 3 to 4 years.

  • People asked to vacate weak buildings

     

    Karachi has 354 weak buildings

    A number of 354 buildings in Karachi has been declared ‘dangerous’ by concerned authorities and people living in these buildings have been advised to vacate them and relocate themselves somewhere else to protect themselves from any harm, if the building/s collapsed during upcoming rains. Sindh Building Control Authority Director General Agha Maqsood Abbas said in a recent statement that a technical committee, comprising engineers and architects, had after a survey declared these 354 buildings dangerous.He said the committee was continuing the survey and if more such buildings are identified, these too would be notified as dangerous.He urged the people to come forward and inform SBCA, about any building or structure in their vicinity that look dangerous and are in a dilapidated condition so the committee could review and examine it and issue a statement about its health/ life.

  • Understanding Chinese’ entry in Pakistani Market

    I think the prevalent questions in the minds of Pakistani society regarding CPEC are that what will be the consequences of Chinese entering the domestic market? Either they will occupy the whole market by monopolising it or they will compete fairly in the market or they will destroy our domestic manufacturing industry by pumping lower priced China-made products into the market?

    In my opinion basic Economics can be a great help to cater all these questions and following points seem important in this regard. Is import good for our society or bad?

    The answer to this question depends on our understanding of what does it mean for a product or service to be good or bad for a society? What are the needed attributes in a commercial product being sold in a market? Either it is the standard of living of the Pakistani citizens which matter or the so-called national prestige which becomes high when we see the products mentioning “made in Pakistan”?

    If it is the standard of living which is valued then decrease in the price level escalates the standard of living of the people because it increases our purchasing power. For example, I have Rs20 and I need to buy bread for my daily meal. The price of one slice of bread is Rs5, so I will get four slices by paying Rs20. Supposedly, the price of one slice decreases to Rs4, what will happen then? In fact, I will be able to buy five slices. Now we again suppose that the price of a bread jumps to Rs7. Now, my purchasing power will be decreased and I will get only three slices of bread. So, the benefit of society is in low priced items. The fewer consumers will spend, the more they will save which result in more investment. If a consumer wants to spend all her disposable income, then she will buy more items (less in basic needs and more in luxuries).

    Is foreign investment good or bad?

    Foreign investment is always good for an economy. It increases the know-how in the society by inserting advanced knowledge and technology. Important thing is that workers learn new things from their repetition of tasks and from the innovative practices introduced by entrepreneurs or foreign firms. Similarly, when a foreign firm introduces new ideas and practices in the society, their employees learn from them, it increases the rate of entrepreneurship because some employees leave their job and start their own business which they have learned from their experiences.

    Ricardo Hausman writes this in the following words:

    “The key to [Progress) is tacit knowledge. To make stuff, you need to know how to make it, and this knowledge is, to a large extent, latent – not available in books, but stored in the brains of those who need to use it……new firms are formed mainly by workers who leave other successful firms, taking the relevant tacit knowledge with them. The reality is that people learn more by performing and repeating tasks, better than mere reading books in Academics.”

    Remember that local businessman has more competitive advantage than a foreign one because he knows more about the local environment. Bangladesh’s textile industry is a beautiful case study in this regard which shows that foreign investment increases the comparative advantage of the local firms. It increases total production of the society. It creates more jobs and opens more opportunities for entrepreneurs which definitely increase the standard of living of the people.

    More investments mean the pie of the economy enlarges. The economy is not a fixed pie. The new entries in the market do not mean that new entrants will disentitle local firms from their fair shares in the market. When Chinese businesses will enter the market, they will definitely search the opportunities in which they have more competitive advantage. While local businesses will search the opportunity in which they can contribute better than their Chinese competitors. Be confident that our business community has the potential to do it and foreign competition will further enhance it.

    The important thing to be more concerned about CPEC is not the foreign competition but the terms and conditions of the deal, and the risk of monopoly if it is being granted by the state to the investors. We should keep our focus on the incentives being provided to them. Either they are coming to join us and compete with our local firms just like other foreign investors do or they will be treated differently from Pakistani investors with more privilege? There should be no special treatment or special incentives to any firm either it is local and foreign. The monopoly of any kind will destroy our economy, politics and society, and we will be in big trouble in future. We must be very careful and cautious by asking critical questions to the government on behalf of our civil society.

    (The writer is an economist in a public policy think tank PRIME based in Islamabad).