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PESHAWAR (March 12 2009): The Government has received funds from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) for the construction of Peshawar-Torkham Highway, said Secretary Communication Sharif Ahmed. He was addressing ground breaking ceremony of NHA Complex here at Chamkani Interchange on Wednesday.

Federal Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan Khalil was chief guest on the occasion. Secretary Communication Sharif Ahmed said that ADB and World Bank have provided funds for the mega highway project, which on completion would provide an easy access to the Pakistani products to capture the Central Asian markets.

The technical design of the project has already been approved, he told the audience. He also mentioned about other gigantic projects initiated by his ministry and currently underway in the frontier province. He said that construction on Northern Bypass project costing Rs 11 billion was also in progress by the NHA.

Similarly, he said, Malakand tunnel project was also in the pipeline that will be completed at a cost of Rs 90 million dollars. The construction work on it would start shortly, he added. Secretary Communication said, Lowari tunnel project was nearing completion and expected to be ready in one and a half-year.

He told the audience that NHA was also constructing Basha dam road besides undertaking Kohat-Bannu-DIKhan road project (N-55). A bridge would also be constructed in Khushal Garh to have another road connecting NWFP with Punjab.

He also took notice of the removal of the fences along M-I Peshawar-Islamabad in areas falling in the jurisdiction of the NWFP and urged the people to protect the road from such damages as it was their project. He said now the government has decided to recruit people from the respective areas to protect fences along the motorway in the NWFP section.

Earlier Secretary Communication briefed the Federal Minister about the NHA Complex Project, which will cost Rs 1073 million. It would be multi-story building and separate accommodation for the officers and officials of the NHA. Chairman NHA Chaudhry Altaf and high ranked officials of the Ministry of Communication, NHA and Motorway Police attended the event among others.
 

BEIJING (March 13 2009): Karachi will be added to Air China international network from Chengdu from March 30. The airline will launch its Beijing-Chengdu-Karachi flight to connect Chengdu with Pakistan, media report said. The Boeing 757 aircraft will be used for twice a week Tuesday and Friday-flights.

The plane will leave Beijing at 1630 hrs, after pausing at Chengdu, at 2010 it will fly for Pakistan and land in Karachi at 2350 hrs local time. The return flight will take off from Karachi next day. It will take 6 hours to cover the 4,500 kilometers distance costing around 4,000 yuan.
 
UAE, Korea to set up 1,000MW power plant

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting with an eight-member delegation of UAE’s Bin Din Group and Korea’s Petroleum Development Corporation (PEDCO) on Saturday to discuss the working on development blocks of the Thar Coal Project and considered the details of the Letter of Intent. According to details, PEDCO would work for three years in Block 4 and 8 and start drilling and boring for coal mining where after power generation will start. The Korean company will setup a 1000MW mine-mouth thermal power plant by using Thar coal reserves.

The meeting was informed that the Mines and Mineral Development, Law Department, Thar Coal and Energy Board and CM Secretariat would examine the details of the agreement being prepared for the proposed project. The Thar Coal Energy Board will hold an important meeting on Tuesday in this regard, while the agreement signing is expected on Thursday. PEDCO’s representative revealed that this would be Pakistan’s biggest thermal plant, providing energy to two million households and six lac industrial units, while generating job opportunities for 90,000 skilled and non-skilled workers. The representative of Bin Din Group informed the meeting that besides the power plant, schools, a college and a hospital would also be setup in the area. app
 

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

KARACHI: Federal Ports and Shipping Minister, Babar Ghauri has said that his ministry is working on reducing the port charges so that our importers, exporters and port users are mainly benefitted.

He stated this while talking to journalists after a visit to berths 10 to 14 at East Wharf, on Tuesday, which had collapsed during 2007 heavy rains and are now being reconstructed. He was accompanied by Chairperson KPT, Nasrin Haque and other officials.

He said the berths are being reconstructed at a cost of Rs5.5 billion out of which $15 million have been provided by the World Bank. Ghauri said after completion of the work, port will move into the second phase during which additional berths from 15 to 17 will be constructed.

He informed that efforts are in hand for modernisation of Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar Port and to bring them at par with the world’s best ports. The minister told newsmen about the Deep Water Container Terminal with a draft of 18 meters, which is going to be constructed at Karachi Port and said work will hopefully commence next month with ceremony to be performed by prime minister.

He said work was to start in March but due to prevailing situation, its ceremony will now be held in April. Referring to berths he visited, Ghauri pointed out that these were the very berths which had collapsed in 2007 due to heavy showers and soon work on their reconstruction was taken up through a Korean company.

He said the berths have further been deepened and it’s along side will be 16 metres deep as against the previous 12.5 metres which will facilitate the big ships to sail in future. He said the company has been given March 2010 as the completion year.

He said that problem being faced is the debris of last two berths which had collapsed, is lying underneath and technical problems are being faced to remove that. For this purpose various contractors have been contacted so that the pace of work is expedited.

Replying to a question, Ghauri said that every berth has an age limit and, therefore, wherever and whenever required, these will continue to be reconstructed.

To another question federal minister said that Task Force setup for the development of PNSC has recommended induction of 10 new ships into its fleet. He said efforts are being made to resolve the funding problem and in this regard various institutions are being approached.

He said induction of new ships would help enhance trade volume for the corporation. —APP
 

Saturday, 21 Mar, 2009

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s physical infrastructure is inadequate in comparison with world standards and has been identified as one of the critical reasons holding back more rapid economic growth in the country.

An assessment report on the private sector carried out by the Asian Development Bank stated that the infrastructure sector in the country consists of power, telecommunications, roads, ports, railways, air transport, urban infrastructure, information technology cyber parks, and industrial estates.

The public sector has been the main provider of basic infrastructure in Pakistan. However, given the major unmet needs and limited fiscal space, the government’s capacity to address the infrastructure deficit is severely constrained.

To augment limited public resources for infrastructure, private sector participation in infrastructure development has to be encouraged by creating the necessary enabling environment for increased private sector involvement.

While Pakistan holds up generally well on infrastructure sector performance compared to other South Asian and low income countries, it is clearly way below the averages for the OECD countries.

Pakistan’s electricity and power infrastructure has already come under major strain, and there is a danger that the infrastructure sector in its totality will become a major bottleneck for continued growth and development unless a well designed long-term strategy to enhance infrastructure investment and expand private sector participation in infrastructure development is evolved and implemented.

The report said that the potential of the private sector to meet Pakistan’s pressing infrastructure needs is largely untapped. Thus far, the government’s initiatives to promote the private sector’s role have only succeeded to a certain extent with private sector investment having come in the power and cellular telecommunications sectors.

The private sector is now also setting up an oil terminal at the Karachi Port. There is also a proposal to set up an urban mass transit system in Karachi by the private sector. But attempts to privatise the road infrastructure, for example, have met with little success.

As another example, other than a public-private desalination project in Karachi, the private sector has not financed any water supply and sanitation projects or projects targeted at solid waste management, it stated.

Available data indicates that Pakistan had total private sector investment in infrastructure of $17.206 billion during 1990-2006, with a major concentration of 96 per cent in the energy and telecom sectors. There was very little private investment in transport and no investment in water and sewerage sectors.

Despite the laggard interest of the private sector so far, the government remains keen to tap private sector participation and investment in the infrastructure sector. The MTDF for 2005-10 has earmarked $16 billion for public sector investment in the infrastructure sector.

Pakistan’s total requirements for infrastructure development over the next five years are in the range of $40 billion, but are much higher at about $65 billion if the planned large water storage dams are also included.

The funding gap between the total requirements and the available government’s public sector resource is expected to be filled by the private sector. Such a strategy, however, seems very ambitious given the existing constraints to private sector participation in infrastructure development.

The bulk of private sector financing for infrastructure development in Pakistan, concentrated in the telecommunication and financial sectors, has been generated offshore and entered Pakistan as FDI.

In order to encourage private sector financing in other infrastructure sectors like road networks and transportation and water and sanitation, it will be essential to tap domestic financial markets given that foreign capital would be less likely to flow in these ‘riskier’ sectors.

However a major constraint to generating domestic sources is the absence of a secondary market in debt securities and the governments’ pre-emption of funds of large public sector savings institutions like the State Life Insurance Company and provident and pension funds - some of the potential major providers of long-term investment funds.

The absence of an active market in long-term debt securities is a major reason for the dearth of local financing in the amount and tenor required to finance infrastructure.

Considering the large investment requirements for infrastructure development, direct financing from financial institutions would be insufficient given the balance sheet and credit exposure limitations of these institutions.

The alternative would be to raise funds directly from the public.

To do this would require, in conjunction with ongoing capital market reforms, raising institutional capabilities and developing financing instruments that more appropriately meet the long-term financing requirements of infrastructure projects so that resources can be mobilised on a sustained basis.

Over the long-term, only an efficient and properly functioning banking sector and capital market can sustain large-scale infrastructure financing in the country.

While some progress in developing a corporate bond market was made during the period 2000-03 using typically term finance certificates (corporate debt paper issued in Pakistan with maturity generally not exceeding five years), the stock market boom and low interest rates effectively stopped further growth and development of the market for longer term maturity bonds. In addition, markets or instruments do not exist at present for zero coupon municipal bonds in Pakistan due in part to the legal constraint on local and provincial government to directly issue debt.
 

KARACHI (March 24 2009): The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) would bring the $11.4 million Liquid Cargo Terminal (LCT) at Port Qasim to be operational from March 28, 2009. According to official sources at PQA, the Authority had declared the draft and dimensions for the newly-built terminal, the operation of which had long been hindered by at least seven decade-old naval moorings, comprising four underwater sinkers and four buoy chains, at Marginal Wharf, Berth No-1.

The PQA, operator of the Port Qasim, had set an overall length of 170-metre, 30-meter beam and 8.5-meter draught for the LCT, a project of M/s FWQ Enterprise, they added. The sources further said the terminal would start handling the liquid cargo ships from Saturday, March 28, with a vessel carrying around 12,000 metric tones of Malaysian palm oil, being the first to anchor at the facility on the same date.

Another PQA official, however came up with a different date for commissioning of the LCT saying that the terminal would start functioning on March 26 but not on March 28. It is worth mentioning that the PQA had declared to complete and commission the $11.4 million LCT project by January 2008, but the reason of removal of naval moorings from navigational channel, delayed the time frame set by the PQA.

The Authority had allocated Rs 77.90 million for the removal of moorings that according to sources, was a stumbling block for PQAs mega projects, like the project of Deepening and Widening of Channel worth Rs 10.3 billion. Earlier, the PQA had set a designed capacity of 4 million tonnes per annum for the LCT dredging and work on which, had been commenced in March 2007.
 

ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of the National Policy Platform for Competiveness and Economic Growth (NPPCEG), a new initiative of the Competitive Support Fund (CSF), discussed key policy issues for analytical work and policy advice to the government for improving competitiveness of the economy.

The meeting was inaugurated by the State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Hina Rabbani and chaired by Shahid Javed Burki, Chairman of NPPCEG.

Shahid suggested the government to decentralise fiscal power and let provinces decide about the use of their resources. He also suggested net cash support to low-income people as an effective tool to cope with the situation.

Various policy initiatives are needed to counter the situation and for economic turnaround, massive development projects in the social sector and infrastructure must be started to arrest the growing poverty, experts suggested.

After the meeting Burki said poverty would increase in Pakistan while the per capita income may decline significantly due to the current economic slowdown. Burki said the platform would strengthen the capacity of the Pakistani research institutions and think tanks to carry out applied research and economic and policy analyses.

NPPCEG participating institutions offered feedback on the issues identified and suggested potential alternatives. The meeting also decided to task certain member institutions to conduct further public policy analyses on the selected topics prior to the Platform’s next meeting, at which time the findings would be discussed, and concrete actionable recommendations would be prepared for the Government of Pakistan. The NPPCEG institutions primarily comprise of reputed experts from the public-private and academic sectors.

Hina Rabbani Khar emphasised that one of the key objectives of the National Policy Platform would be to play the role of a learning platform to strengthen the capacity of the Pakistani research institutions and think-tanks to carry out applied research and economic and policy analyses.

These institutions would then be in a position to analyze the Government’s economic reform agenda and inform its policymaking decisions. She said: “The other key objective of the platform will be to launch a dialogue with the policy-makers in the public and private sectors. These activities will continue to inform the debate on competitiveness and economic growth.”

Addressing the meeting, Burki noted: “The process of globalization has changed the structure of production and trade in the world economy. With the extraordinary development of information and communication technologies, economists have given up classifying “products” of the service sector as non-tradeables. There are a number of new opportunities that have opened up for countries such as Pakistan that have large and young populations and are physically close to some of the more rapidly growing and dynamic countries in the global economy. The work proposed by the NPPCEG aims to identify some of the areas in public policy that could help Pakistan to achieve its considerable economic potential.”

Arthur Bayhan, Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund, said: “Pakistan, with its increasing economic challenges, requires that the issues impacting the competitiveness of the economy are those which are tackled on an immediate basis. We believe that the best outcomes can be achieved when we coordinate across a broad continuum of stakeholders and donors. By combining our efforts with those of multiple organisations, we can improve the economic health of Pakistan”.
 

ISLAMABAD (April 05 2009): Chief Commissioner Islamabad, Fazeel Asghar on Saturday said that Cabinet Division and Capital Development Authority (CDA) are working to introduce a mass transit system and significant progress is expected in this regard within six months.

He stated this while inaugurating new route (No 140) being started for providing best transport facilities to the citizens of Islamabad. A private company with the name of Islamabad urban transport system has started plying luxury buses also on this route which will start from Bari Imam to G-15 Golra mor.

Addressing the opening ceremony of new route at national university of science and technology Nust, Chief Commissioner said that Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration is reviewing all the routes in Islamabad in order to provide maximum transport facilities to the citizens.

He also appreciated the efforts of ICTA for launching new modern and comfortable bus service on the new route. He said that citizens of twin cities will greatly benefit from the transport system which is being re-vamped and will address the transport problems in the city in most effective manner.

Earlier, Director General Administration of Nust University Brigadier Arif Siddiqui (Retd) in his address appreciated the efforts of ICT administration for solving the transport problems of the citizens and acknowledged the launching of new bus service on this new route.
 

KARACHI (April 03 2009): Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, unveiled its first ever, innovative, solar powered cellular phone; Solar Crest in Pakistan, emphasising Samsungs vision and its pioneering efforts for environmental sustainability, said a press release on Thursday.As a global leader in cutting-edge technology, Samsung is leading the way into a greener future by utilising sources of renewable energy.

This innovation is a quantum leap towards technologies that will minimise reliance on ecologically harmful sources of energy. This handset is designed with integrated solar panels, thus it operates and recharges without any ecological deterioration. Solar Crest has been designed to create unmatched convenience for the customers; its solar technology has a special utility for cell-phone users residing in countries where electricity shortages are experienced quite frequently. -PR
 

ISLAMABAD: Federal Cabinet has ratified International Road Transport Agreement signed between Iran and Pakistan under which traffic /trucks from Pakistan and Turkey would be able to ply through Iran while Iran will also have an access to China via Pakistan.

Besides boosting economic opportunities, the access to other Central Asian Republics and Europe through Iran and Turkey would be an added advantage to Pakistan.

Federal Cabinet met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani. According to the decisions, Federal Cabinet has also ratified agreement on cooperation in the field of transportation and transit of goods to provide Uzbekistan an access for the transshipment of their trade cargo to / from Gwadar port.

The cabinet approved ratification of agreement on cooperation in the field of transportation and transit of goods between the Government of Pakistan and Government of the Islamic Republic of Uzbekistan. The agreement envisages free traffic in transit to the carriers of contracting parties through multi model transport system (land, rail, sea) in accordance with their existing national laws and regulations. The main objective is to provide Uzbekistan an access for the transshipment of their trade cargo to / from Gwadar port.

In pursuance of the International Road Transport Agreement signed between the Governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan in June 2008, cabinet gave its approval for instrument of ratification concerning the agreement. This will facilitate the international transport by road of passengers and goods between the two countries and in transit through their respective territories. By signing this Agreement, traffic /trucks from Pakistan and Turkey would be able to ply through Iran while Iran will also have an access to China via Pakistan. Besides boosting economic opportunities, the access to other Central Asian Republics and Europe through Iran and Turkey would be an added advantage to Pakistan.

To further cement socio-economic and political relations with the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahoria, the cabinet gave ex-post facto approval for initiation of negotiations for MoU on bilateral political consultations. It will provide a forum to take stock of the trajectory of bilateral relations and share views on issues of mutual interest. Ex-post facto approval was also granted for entering into negotiations for an extradition treaty with Libya. Approval was also granted for MoU for cooperation in the field of employment. Pakistan was one of the main suppliers of skilled and semi-skilled manpower to Libya during 1970s and 80s. However, due to stagnation in relations and absence of formal arrangements, the Pakistani manpower in Libya declined from over 100,000 to 10,000. The proposed MoU would help enhance cooperation in the field of employment/manpower export to Libya.

In order to strengthen cooperation in the areas of labour and occupational training with the Kingdom of Bahrain, cabinet gave its approval to start negotiations for entering into an MoU.

Pakistan is a signatory to the Agreement on establishment of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) that is mandated to remove technical barriers on trade to facilitate flow of goods and services in the SAARC region. Cabinet ratified the SARSO agreement.

Ex-post facto approval was granted for initiation of negotiations and signing of MoU with the Government of Republic of Korea for establishing “Garment Technology Training Centre” in Karachi. The project aims to enhance competitiveness of textile and apparel industry by providing skilled work force.

Cabinet approved the ratification of bilateral investment treaty with the Republic of Kazakistan on reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
 
500 luxury buses to be on road soon, says Mujtaba
Published: April 10, 2009
LAHORE - Under the aegis of Lahore Transport Company, 500 new luxury buses will be on road in one month while later on this scheme will be introduced in other big cities like Multan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. The Punjab government will provide 25 percent subsidy on purchase of new buses and encourage private sector in transport sector.
Punjab Transport, Excise and Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman expressed these views while talking to Sindh Transport Minister Akhtar Hussain Jadoon who called on him here on Thursday. Punjab Transport Secretary Shahzad Cheema was also present in the meeting.
Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said that a comprehensive strategy has been evolved and Rs one billion subsidy has been sanctioned at Punjab level while Rs 150 million allocated in Lahore city only. He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is fully committed to provide ultra-modern transport facilities to citizens of Punjab. He briefed his counterpart on the initiatives taken in different sectors by present the Punjab government.
Sindh Transport Minister Akhtar Hussain Jadoon said that Lahore and Karachi have same kind of problems in transport sector. He said that as per changing circumstances we should amend rule and regulations, accordingly. Secretary Transport Shahzad Cheema also briefed the meeting on the system working in Punjab.

The Nation...!!
 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is in need of substantial private sector investment requiring approximately $110 billion over next five years to cater to the infrastructure necessities for growing population, y Ghulam Murtaza Satti, adviser on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) said during an investors forum arranged by Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF).

The investors observed that there should be consistency and continuity in the policies and stressed the need for legislation to cover loopholes in PPP. They quoted examples of Lahore –Faisalabad road on BoT of Punjab Government and Lakpass tunnel project on BoT of NHA. The investors also quoted the statement of Minister of Ports and Shipping regarding cancellation of concession agreement signed between Government and Singapore Port Authorities, which can affect business environment in the country.

Talking to a group of investors, Satti said that elected government is fully cognizant of the importance of PPP and is laying emphasis for which IPDF is a focal entity. He highlighted the key issues like employment generation, economic empowerment and additional use of existing infrastructure associated with the economic development of the country. He further said that the PPP has also got support of the International Institutions like, World Bank and Asian Development Bank to carry out its policy.

Ghulam Murtaza Satti added that IPDF takes special care of the appropriateness of the transaction structure, sizing of the project to the right demand transaction suitability by taking into consideration the concerns of the investors and the lenders. Urging the investors, he assured them that their concerns will be taken care off while drafting concession agreements for the infrastructure projects in order to make them air tight so that these concessions should be workable and should not be affected by change of government.

Giving presentation to participants, IPDF team informed about 11 projects of IPDF worth of Rs 200 billion which are at various stages of the development. Representatives of Board of Investment, Daewoo, Fauji Foundation, FWO, Inter Construct Pvt. Ltd., Lakson Group, PTCL, Sachal Engineering, SCG, Development Infrastructure, Infrastructure development Company, Habib Rafiq Pvt., MCB Bank, Emaar Pakistan, TGS, SCG and IDC attended the investor forum.
 

MIRPUR (April 11 2009): AJK government is seriously contemplating to air-link Azad Jammu and Kashmirs fast expanding model city of Mirpur with rest of the world through the establishment of an international airport in order to provide direct air-travelling facilities to the people including over 700,000 of Britain based overseas Kashmiris belonging to Mirpur division, official sources said.

AJK government has decided in principal to establish its own airline, the Kashmir Airline, besides the emergence of a full-fledge international airport in Mirpur, the sources told APP here on Friday. The proposed Mirpur International Airport would provide direct and most comfortable air travelling facilities to the overseas Kashmiris to their ancestral town of Mirpur.

A bright potential is already available in the area to materialise the plan which would, indeed, prove to be the strong source of the local economy of AJK, the sources added. Highlighting various other development projects proposed to be launched in Mirpur under a phased programme, the sources said that a mega industrial zone was also being established over an area of 25,000 kanal in Mirpur.
 

MULTAN (April 11 2009): Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani will arrive here today (April 11) on one day visit of Multan. He will attend an inaugural ceremony of project of Multan Airport expansion & upgradation, groundbreaking ceremony of Multan-Faisalabad Motorway and Aimen Wala Bridge at Jalalpur Pirwala.

The Prime Minister has approved a project to revive the handicrafts, cultural heritage and civilisation of Multan, the ancient city of the world, by patronising the blue pottery, camel skin decoration pieces, and mud-pottery with the collaboration and financial assistance of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).

Gilani would formally announce these projects for imparting training to youth in different traditional trades. MCCI President Anis Ahmed Sheikh said, "we would produce the young experts in camel skin crafts, blue pottery, mud pottery etc to preserve this dying cultural heritage.

He said that Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (One Place, One Product) project envisages to study and emulate OVOP (One Village, One Product) of Japan and other similar programmes for income generation of rural and urban population with a view to identifying the best practices and adopt the same for design and implementation of rural enterprise modernisation initiative of the government of Pakistans AHAN programme, keeping in perspective the overall policy to use the private sector as the engine for rural enterprise development.

Anis Ahmed Sheikh said that primary objective of Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN)/Rural Enterprise Modernisation Project is to reduce poverty by supporting employment generation activities, economic growth and enhancing competitiveness of the micro and small business in rural areas.

The project envisages enabling the rural business to access a range of business development services, including appropriate technologies and financial capital. The direct benefits are expected to flow from increased employment and income earning opportunities in the rural areas, particularly for wage earners, women and poor producer groups with potential to engage in a higher level of commercial activity.

It is expected that through these measures there will be increased value-addition in the products, improved commercial linkages between rural MSEs and the larger urban business. Increased demand for goods and services will add to overall benefits. He said that 25 youths would be trained in camel skin trade with the technical guidance and training by AHAN experts.

Naveed Ahmed Sheikh, Regional Co-ordinator of AHAN said we had developed five diagnostic studies ie, Lacquer Work Cluster, Sillanwali, Balochi Chapal Cluster, Quetta, Handmade Items Cluster, Karachi, Hand and Power Loom Cluster, Matha Mughal Khel, Blue Pottery & Camel Skin in Multan.

He said that AHAN was serving for the development & implementation of marketing strategy including market analysis, product selection, brand development, promotional campaign, test marketing and distribution system for rural non-farm products of Pakistan enterprises development support in rural areas. Management of resources capacities includes production management, quality assurance, supply product chain management for rural enterprises and clusters.

Management of design and technological development of products targeted by the programme includes contracts and proforma agreement, development patents and technology, procedures for product development and quality assurance. Imran Cheema of AHAN Multan, Mian Mughis Ahmed Shaikh former president of MCCI, Abdul Rehman Naqqash, Ms Sanam (designer), Muhammad Wajid, Anwar Salim Keen, Shamshad Jafari also discussed on the projects.
 

Sunday, April 12, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Renewable energy technologies would be an essential element in Pakistan’s energy future making major contributions to the diversity and security of energy supply and to economic development, said Water and Power Federal Minister and Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Chairman Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday.

He was speaking to the media after a briefing at the AEDB headquarters in connection with the inauguration of the country’s first wind farm planned for later this month. The federal minister reiterated the government’s commitment to ending load-shedding by December 31.

Ashraf said the inauguration of the first wind farm would be a landmark in the renewable energy sector as the government pursues the objective of a clean and competitive energy future for the country.

The wind farm established by the Turkish Firm Zorlu Enerji has a six-megawatt installed capacity in the first phase. Five turbines have been installed, each with a capacity to generate some 149,137 kwh of electricity.

The power generated in the first phase would be supplied to the Jhimpir grid station by the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company for electrifying 7,400 homes. The project will produce sufficient electricity to do away with the production of approximately 10,500 tons of carbon dioxide each year, compared to a conventional fossil fuel power project. The farm would be later expanded in the second phase to generate 50MW of electricity.

AEDB Chief Executive Officer Arif Alaudin said 2009 would be remembered as the year when Pakistan received it first megawatts from wind. He said in addition to the Gharo corridor that has been opened for exploitation, several other corridors are being explored by the AEDB. Renewable energy, Alaudin underscored, must realise its rightful and significant position if we are to ensure that development, energy security and climate resilience are to be attained.
 
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