Infrastructure Development in Pakistan

[Sulman Badshah]

Pakistan takes EU to WTO over plastic trade

European Union flags fly in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. PHOTO: REUTERS

GENEVA: Pakistan launched a trade dispute at the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday to challenge the European Union’s punitive duties on Pakistani exports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the WTO said in a statement.

Pakistan says the EU has broken WTO rules in the way that it imposed anti-subsidy duties on PET, which is used in synthetic fibres, plastic bottles and food containers.

Under WTO rules, the EU has 60 days to try to settle the dispute in direct talks, after which Pakistan could escalate the issue by asking the WTO to set up a panel to adjudicate.

Pakistan’s exports of PET were worth just over $200 million last year, according to data from the International Trade Center, a UN-WTO joint venture.

Although its exports have grown, sales to the EU have dwindled in the past few years. The EU accounted for over 80 per cent of Pakistan’s foreign sales of PET a decade ago, but less than 10 per cent of Pakistani PET exports went to the EU in 2013, a tiny slice of the EU’s $4.3 billion imports of the material.

The dispute is the first that Pakistan has initiated in almost a decade and its first against the EU. It previously launched three disputes – two against the United States and one against Egypt, which was settled in 2006.

 

[Sulman Badshah]

FATA: COAS Gen. Raheel Sharif inaugurated the Wana-Shakai-Makeen Road during his visit to South Waziristan Agency

 

[ghazi52]

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[osama zafar]

That air port looks Chikna

 

[ghazi52]

Islamabad.

 

[ghazi52]

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Islamabad Express (Islamabad-Lahore) the fair is just 340/= From Margalla Station Islamabad

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Rawalpindi Islamabad Metro Bus

 

[Muhammad Omar]

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Karachi circular Railway (News)

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Sialkot Waste Management Company

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Rs2.85bn for children hospitals in three cities

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique says the government will construct three children hospitals at Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Bahawalpur at a cost of about Rs2,850 million (Rs2.85 billion).

He was presiding over a review meeting of Annual Development Programme (ADP) of health department at Civil Secretariat on Sunday, says a handout.

Punjab Secretary Health Jawad Rafique Malik, Director General Health Dr. Zahid Pervez, Additional Secretary Health (Technical) Dr. Salman Shahid, Chief Planning Officer Abdul Haq Bhatti and other senior officers attended the meeting.

The meeting accorded approval to 65 schemes.

The health secretary directed that DCO of respective districts and divisional commissioners be contacted to acquire land for the project.

He said consultants be hired for the projects and feasibility report be prepared on an urgent basis.

Chief Planning Officer Abdul Haq Bhatti said construction work on Children Hospital, Faisalabad, was under way and the project would be completed soon.

Khwaja Salman directed that work on project of rehabilitation and repair of nursing hostel be started immediately.

He said a meeting should be called on a fortnightly basis to review progress on the development projects and utilisation of funds.

He said work on Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Centre in Lahore would also start soon. For the purpose, a trust would be established and a summary had been sent to the chief minister for approval of names of the trustees.

The meeting also decided to constitute a technical committee to prepare classifications for the procurement of mobile health units for the under-developed districts of Punjab.

The meeting decided that blood centres would be established in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sargodha at a cost of Rs100 million.

Secretary Health Jawad Rafique Malik directed that the chief planning officer and director of Blood Transfusion Service should visit Indus Blood Transfusion Centre, Karachi, and submit a feasibility report to establish centres in Punjab on the model of Karachi centre.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1143435/rs2...n-three-cities

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Road rehabilitation, bridge over Chenab okayed

GUJRAT: The historic Defence Road between Cantonment cities of Kharian and Jalalpur Jattan will be widened and rehabilitated with Rs300 million by the Punjab government, as the strategically important road has been in a dilapidated condition for long.

A bridge over the Chenab at Shahbaz Pur village in the outskirts of Jalalpur Jattan has also been approved to restore the link between the Gujrat and Sialkot sides of the old Jurneli (Defence) Road that is 90 feet wide.

The local administration and ruling party had been underlining execution of the proposed widening of the 32km long road as well as construction of the bridge, which according to them could bring about economic prosperity in the area.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Liaquat Ali Chattha told Dawn the provincial government had approved widening and rehabilitation of the old Defence Road from Kharian city’s GT Road up to the proposed site of the Shahbaz Pur Bridge in Jalalpur Jattan. More than Rs300 million were being allocated for the project, he added.

Initially, the Punjab government had only approved the construction of a bridge over the Chenab for linking Gujrat to the international airport and the Sambrial dry port in Sialkot to facilitate expatriates as well as electric fan exporters from the area. However, due to pursuance by the local administration and local PML-N leaders, the government also approved rehabilitation of the Defence Road, he said. He added that both projects would be executed in the current fiscal year.

Construction of the bridge had been planned during the PML-Q government in Punjab. The then chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had allocated funds and the then president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf laid the foundation stone. Elahi had also established the University of Gujrat near Jalalpur Jattan city to link it with Sialkot through Shahbaz Pur village. The Defence Road and the proposed site for the bridge were located only a few kilometres away from the university’s Hafiz Hayat campus.

However, the PML-N government changed the location and design of the project. Now a single bridge providing two-way traffic had been designed, which would be 32 feet wide and the estimated cost of the project was Rs1.5 billion.

Previously, two bridges had been planned at another site located a few kilometres away from the current site and their estimate cost was a bit high.

PML-N leader Nawabzada Tahirul Mulk said locals pinned great hopes on both projects. The people of Gujrat, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin as well as Bhimbher and Mirpur districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, with an overwhelming majority settled abroad, could utilise the Sialkot airport and dry port after the bridge was constructed.

He said out of the total estimated budget of Rs1.5 billion, Rs200 million had already been released for initiating the construction work on the bridge, which would hopefully be completed within the current fiscal year.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1143434/roa...-chenab-okayed

 

[WaLeEdK2]

It seems as though most of developments are happening in Punjab. The other provinces need to pick up the pace.

 

[Pakistani shaheens]

$1b investment: Chinese firm to set up refinery in Pakistani province balochistan.

Oil refineries import nine million tons of crude oil every year to meet their processing needs. Oil imports cost between $14 and $15 billion. STOCK IMAGE

ISLAMABAD:
A Chinese company is planning to pour an investment of $1 billion into setting up Pakistan’s first deep-conversion oil refinery in violence-plagued Balochistan, a step that could turn the country into an oil exporter especially to Beijing.

“The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is in talks with Volant Industry Limited of China about developing a deep-conversion oil refinery in Balochistan,” said an official while talking to The Express Tribune.

In the first phase, the refinery would have annual production capacity of five million tons and it would be enhanced to 10 million tons in the next stage, the official said.

This will not only help meet domestic demand but will also lead to export of petroleum products to neighbouring countries like China.

At present, the designed refining capacity of the country is 13.9 million tons per annum, which will increase to about 18.5 million tons after a new Byco refinery with production capacity of 120,000 barrels per day starts operating at the optimum pace.

Total consumption of petroleum products is estimated at 22 million tons per annum, of which about 13 million tons are imported. Apart from this, oil refineries import nine million tons of crude oil every year to meet their processing needs. Oil imports cost between $14 and $15 billion.

Pak Arab Refinery Limited (Parco), a major oil refinery, has the capacity to produce 100,000 barrels per day and 4.5 million tons per annum.

At present, oil refineries produce 40% of furnace oil consumption after processing crude and making value addition, but they are compelled to sell the product at a lower price, said the official, adding the deep-conversion facility would be able to refine furnace oil twice and sell it at a better price.

Under the economic corridor programme, Pakistan and China plan to lay oil and gas pipelines from the Gwadar Port to China to meet the latter’s energy needs. “There is a possibility that the proposed refinery will sell petroleum products to Beijing,” the official said.

Earlier, Iran had announced that it was interested in investing $4 billion in setting up a refinery at Gwadar with a 400,000-barrels-per-day capacity.

The plan was part of building an oil pipeline from Iran, which would be extended to China, which also gave its backing to the project. However, because of unresolved issues pertaining to Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Tehran shelved the plan.

Former president Pervez Musharraf had also coined the idea of establishing a trade corridor to meet Beijing’s energy needs and offered help in constructing a strategic oil pipeline from Gwadar to China’s border.

Beijing is heavily reliant on oil supply from Gulf states, which comes through a very long route, via the Strait of Malacca. The oil supply first reaches Shanghai, or the Chinese east coast, and then travels thousands of miles to reach the country’s western areas.

However, “the Gwadar refinery can provide a much safer, cheaper and shorter route for oil transportation to the west of China through the Karakoram Highway,” a senior official remarked.

A big chunk of Chinese investment in Pakistan has gone to development projects in Balochistan including Saindak copper and gold project in Chagai and lead-zinc mining project in Lasbela.

“The oil refinery planned to be set up by the Chinese firm may also create scores of employment opportunities for the local people,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.