Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Owais]

300 importable items from India may be allowed: heavy agenda for ECC today


ISLAMABAD (September 27 2006): The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC), which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, September 27 with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair, is expected to clear above 300 items to be imported from India on the basis of positive list, official sources told Business Recorder.

As Business Recorder reported recently that the government was waiting for a suitable time for expanding in the list of items importable from India, and the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Havana paved the way for such a development on trade front.

Sources said the new items to be included in the positive list would be around 320-340, as the final decision would be taken by the ECC, which is a competent forum.

They said India had passed on a list of 286 items to Pakistan a few months ago, but later on, the list was further enhanced through diplomatic channels, whereas local business community had demanded permission to import 900 items.

After a detailed comparison of both the lists and keeping in view the interests of the local industry, the government had identified above 300 items, which would be included in the positive list for the time being, the sources added.

Sources said that preference has been given to items on which the duty is about five percent and are not being locally manufactured.

At present, the trade volume between both the countries is less than $1 billion and it is very much in favour of New Delhi. The volume of trade between Pakistan and India during 2004-05 was $746.396 million against $476 million in 2003-04.

The share of Pakistan's total exports to India was 0.8 percent, whereas the share of imports from India was 2.5 percent during 2003-04. Sources said Pakistan's share of exports to India increased to 2.8 percent during July-May 2004-05, while share of imports from India jumped to 8.6 percent when compared with the same period last year.

However, illegal trade between the two countries is higher than the legal channels and they are seriously working on curbing it.

HEAVY AGENDA FOR MEETING The ECC is likely to approve establishment of second container terminal at Port Qasim on 'Build, Operate and Transfer' (BOT) basis. It may also approve wheat support price and the much-talked about use of balanced fertiliser.

The ECC is also expected to approve financial package for the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to cope with cash shortfall of 2005-06, besides extending irrevocable government guarantee for raising Rs 7 billion emergency loan.

The ECC would also decide the volume of subsidy to be given to Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KSEC) against the tariff determined by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) but the government did not pass it on to the consumers. Import of 100 MW electricity from Iran to Gawadar would also be considered by the ECC.

Enhancement of equity to 100 percent for foreign insurance companies, leasing of 'right of way' (ROW) land by National Highway Authority (NHA), exemption from import duty on power and water desalination co-generation projects, equity based investment abroad by resident Pakistanis, diamond bar Island city, a proposal for development of state-of-the-art resort-theme park and modern urban facilities at Bundal-Buddo Islands, Port Qasim, Karachi.

The ECC would consider cases referred to tariff anomalies committee R&D Support to manufacturers-cum-exporters of dyed/printed fabrics and home textiles.

The ECC would also determine price and terms & conditions of land at downstream industrial estate (DIE) Bin Qasim Karachi, restoration of facilities withdrawn by Central Board of Revenue (CBR), signing of Implementation Agreement (IA) between Tuwairqi Steel Mills and GoP and extension in the date of signing of Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) under the Fertiliser Policy-2001 are also on the heavy agenda of the ECC meeting.

 

[Owais]

Banking sector profits up by 65 percent

KARACHI (September 27 2006): The banking sector staged yet another remarkable performance as the profitability of all the 22 listed banks during the first half of the calendar year 2006 surged by 65 percent, touching Rs 32 billion as against Rs 19.4 billion registered during the corresponding period of 2005.

Analysts said that major reasons attributable to this growth were higher advances and increase in lending rates of the banking sector at large. As a result, mark-up income of the banks rose by 75 percent whereas net interest income soared by 42 percent.

Top performers, in terms of percentage growth in bottom line, were UBL, ABL and Meezan Bank (MEBL), recording increase of 125 percent, 117 percent and 112 percent, respectively, while on the other hand of the spectrum stood NIB, KASB and Saudi Pak Commercial Bank (SPCB) which lost 69 percent, 41 percent and 15 percent in terms of profitability.

The overall advances of the listed banks during the period under review rose by 11 percent to Rs 1.6 trillion. At the same time, deposits rose by 6 percent to Rs 2.27 trillion. As a result, the Advance/Deposit ratio netting provisions for non-performing loans stood at 68 percent.

Hence, the banking system is generally in a sound condition despite State Bank of Pakistan's tighter requirement for banks to maintain cash reserve requirement and statutory liquidity requirement of 7 percent and 18 percent respectively from 5 percent and 15 percent previously.

Due to its recent entry in commercial banking, Bank Islami had the highest ADR of 165 percent, following which were NIB and MEBL with an ADR of 99 percent and 86 percent respectively. On the other hand, Crescent Commercial Bank (CCBL) was the safest in this regard, having an ADR of 27 percent.

Next up was SPCBL and then the Bank of Khyber whose ADRs stood at 38 percent and 45 percent respectively. As far as the interest rate environment is concerned, weighted average lending rates of the banking system on fresh loans rose by 3.1 PPS y-o-y to 10.1 percent during the first half of calendar year 2006, whereas rates on fresh deposits during the same period rose by 2.1 PPS to 4.5 percent.

Consequently, spreads were up by a percentage point at 5.5 percent from 4.5 percent previously, which effectively translated into an increase of 22 percent y-o-y.

Jawad Haleem, a research analyst at Atlas Capital Market, said that the profitability of the banking sector for the full year 2006 is expected to surge by 39.41 percent to Rs 66-67 billion as against Rs 47.5 billion during 2005.

The prospective price to earnings and prices to book value multiples of the industry for calendar year 2006 are thus expected at 8.5 and 2.3 respectively. "Being at the deepest discounts to both these industry multiples, our best picks of the sector are BoP, ACBL, FABL and Picic Commercial Bank (PICB)," he added

 

[Owais]

Sindh authorised to award licences for coal gas exploration


ISLAMABAD (September 27 2006): The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has authorised the government of Sindh for awarding exploration and production licences of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) to the intending companies. According to the notification issued on Tuesday, the Sindh provincial government would henceforth award licenses for this purpose.

A dispute resolution committee headed by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources has also been constituted with Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Provincial Minister Mines and Mineral Development, secretary law, justice and human rights division, secretary defence division, secretary petroleum and natural resources and secretary provincial mines and mineral development department as its members, the notification said.

Sindh government had taken up the matter with the federal government, claiming that CBM was the property of provinces and it should be regulated by them alone.

The matter was put before the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, in its meeting on June 14, 2006, by the Petroleum Ministry, the committee constituted a dispute resolution committee (DRC) under the chairmanship of petroleum minister to resolve disputes amongst the stakeholders on the country's natural resources.

Under the regulation of Mines and Oilfields and Mineral Development (Government Control) Act, 1948 (XXIV of 1948) and Pakistan Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Rules, 2001.

The notification sets the following conditions for the exploration and production of Coal Bed Methane as:

a) The Provincial Licensing Authority for CBM would issue exploration and production licenses after due diligence and obtaining necessary performance bond from the intending companies;

b) The provincial government will not grant rights to explore and produce CBM over the areas already allotted by the Federal government for petroleum exploration without first obtaining the consent of respective companies on case to case basis;

c) CBM operations do not hinder petroleum exploration and production activities;

d) The Federal government would have the right to issue licenses for exploration and production of petroleum in the CBM licensed areas;

e) The above conditions would be made part of the contract/agreement with the intending company, giving specific time lines for the proposed work programme, subject to the security clearance by the concerned government organisations for carrying out reconnaissance and exploration by the intending companies;

f) All the relevant documents including agreements with the provincial government, Performance Bond and Contract documents with the intending company will be formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Law and Justice Division.

 

[Owais]

Kuwait bans fish from Pakistan


KUWAIT CITY (September 27 2006): Kuwait on Tuesday slapped an indefinite ban on all fish imports from Pakistan and Iran on health grounds, said Commerce and Industry Minister Falah al-Hajeri. The ban was attributed to a suspicion that some fish imports from the two Asian nations could contain bacteria that cause cholera, the minister told the state-run Kuna news agency.

Some members of the municipal council have alleged that Emirate's food health authorities have allowed Pakistani and Iranian fish imports into Kuwait despite testing positive for the cholera microbe. The council is scheduled to hold an emergency session on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

 

[Owais]

US-based firm acquires 70 percent stock of 2 Pakistani BPO companies


KARACHI (September 27 2006): The Los Angeles-based firm, En Pointe Technologies, has acquired 70 percent stocks of two private sector Pakistani companies, Ovex Technologies Ltd and Ovex Pakistan Limited. Both companies provide back office operational and financial accounting services for En Pointe.

En Pointe is a provider of hardware, software, and information security, and manages services for government agencies and enterprise customers. Sources said that En Pointe Technologies Inc, a leading provider of business-to-business information technology products, services and solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 70 percent of the stock of two privately-owned Pakistani companies that provide business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

The transactions are expected to close on or before October 4, 2006. However, financial terms of the deal could not be known.

Ovex Technologies (Private) Limited has provided offshore services to En Pointe and other customers since 2003, while a related company that was formed in July 2005, Ovex Pakistan (Private) Limited serves the domestic Pakistan market. The two companies, collectively 'Ovex' employ more than 700 highly skilled and trained staff members.

Ovex currently provides back office operational and financial accounting services for En Pointe directly as well as back office support for various US customers under a contractual arrangement with Premier BPO Inc, a variable interest entity partially owned by En Pointe.

Ovex Domestic has been providing call centre services for its first customer, a large Pakistan telecommunication firm, since December 2005. "This will be a landmark transaction for the BPO industry in Pakistan. We believe that En Pointe is the first US publicly-traded company to make a BPO acquisition in Pakistan," said Omar Saeed, Managing Director Ovex Technologies.

"We believe that Ovex is already one of Pakistan's largest and most experienced business outsourcing providers and expect Ovex to become the first BPO enterprise in Pakistan to reach the 1,000 employee mark by the end of 2007," he added.

"To serve the Pakistani domestic market, Ovex Domestic is being positioned to become a leading supplier of BPO services, including the multinational businesses that have been recently attracted to the region.

As a subsidiary of a US based publicly-traded company, we believe that Ovex will be able to offer our own domestic publicly-listed companies an optimal level of performance in servicing their business transactions, including the competency, integrity and transparency expected of public companies," Saeed added.

 

[Owais]

BIT with US to be finalised soon: minister


ISLAMABAD (September 27 2006): The Minister of State for Investment, Umar Ahmad Ghuman has stated that President General Pervez Musharraf's visit had increased Pakistan's standing in the international community and had enhanced its position regarding existing and potential foreign investors significantly.

The Minister who is currently part of the President's official entourage to United States stated that Pakistan's economic successes were much appreciated by the many foreign investors who had the chance to meet the President on this trip.

The Minister stated that the US administration had reiterated their support for furthering the President's investment initiative and facilitating US investors to invest in Pakistan through the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) which was close to being finalised between Pakistan and the US administration.

The fact that Pakistan had achieved economic growth at 6.6 percent in 2005-06, and that Pakistan's economy had grown at an average rate of almost 7.0 percent per annum during the last four years (2002/03-2005/06) certainly positioned Pakistan as one of the fastest growing economies of the Asian region, says a press release.

The Minister stated that many foreign investors were impressed by the emergence of a new investment cycle with investment rate reaching 20.0 percent of GDP (highest in the last 12 years).-PR

 

[Owais]

'Potential exists to boost land trade with China'


ISLAMABAD (September 27 2006): A lot of potential exists between Pakistan and China to enhance trade through land routes which the two governments could exploit by removing the procedural requirements, upgrading infrastructure facilities, sharing information, and further reducing customs duty and tariffs on goods.

These views were expressed by visiting Chinese delegation at a roundtable "Pak-China Trade: The Ground Linkages", organised by the Institute of Policy Studies in collaboration with the Pak-China Business and Investment Promotion Council here on Tuesday.

Kashgar Administration Commissioner Chen Ji, who is leading the delegation to Pakistan in an exhibition, said that the link of Kashgar could be used in promoting the business and people-to-people relations between the two countries. He said the Karakoram Highway has already been upgraded to China's national standards and the same is under way on the Pakistani side.

The visiting Chinese official informed that agriculture and livestock were the mainstay of economy of the areas bordering Pakistan and there was a lot of surplus sheep to be exported.

"Meat of Halal animals like sheep and goats can be exported from Kashgar to Pakistan," he said, adding the problem of traffic and communication between the two countries should be improved for enhancing two-way business.

An official from Animal Husbandry Commission of Pakistan informed that Pakistan and China have signed four protocols for co-operating in the livestock sector. Bilateral trade volume in this sector is, however, very low, he regretted.

Jalil Ahmad Malik, president, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Aman Ullah Khan, chairman, Pak-China Business and Investment Promotion Council were also present on the occasion. Earlier, IPC Director General Khalid Rahman, briefed the guests about the IPC's China program.

Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmad said that co-operation between China and Pakistan has increased substantially in areas of strategic defence and construction sectors but the real challenge lies in trade which needed to be further explored.

He said that land route and communications were the basis of trade between the two countries, which should be supported by aerial routes as well. He said that Asia would play a significant role in world affairs in the next 20 years and the strategic co-operation between Pakistan and China would be of great importance in this context.

Professor Khurshid observed that there were several problems relating to trade between the two counties which needed to be addressed. There were many agreements between the two countries, but they were not properly made operational. There was a need to develop rule of business, he said underlining the opening of bank branches in both the countries. He also pointed out problems of physical infrastructure, movement of people, visa facilities to businessmen, language barriers, quality of goods, and services.

 

[Owais]

Maiden Islamic Sakuk Institution to be set up next year


KARACHI: Pakistan’s maiden Islamic Sakuk Institution with a paid up capital of $100 million would be set up next year.

The expert who had set up Bahrain Islamic Liquidity Management Centre and Islamic Capital Partners’ M.D. Ashar Nazim told this to Geo News.

He told that the Islamic Sakuk Institution would be dealing in the issuance of Islamic Bonds and liquidity management for the Islamic banks in Pakistan. The formation of a consortium comprising of Gulf and Pakistani investors has been planned for the setting up of this Institution.

He told that a presentation for the setting up on this Institution has already been given to the State Bank of Pakistan, which was appreciated.

Ashar Nazim told that Islamic banks presently needed Islamic securities for SRL, while the appetite for the Islamic Bonds also existed in the traditional market. He told that the Gulf Sakuk market during a short span of four years has tremendously expanded from $1 billion to $40 billion.

He said that Pakistan’s Islamic Sakuk Institution would be the third of its kind in the world, following Bahrain Liquidity Management Centre and Bahrain Sakuk House.

 

[Neo]

KARACHI, Sept 26: Standard Chartered Bank has become the largest bank in Pakistan in terms of paid-up capital after the acquisition of Union Bank. Its paid-up capital is now higher than National Bank of Pakistan.

After the merger, the bank has been named Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan (SCBP). It has already become the largest foreign bank in Pakistan.

Standard Chartered PLC announced on September 5 this year that its subsidiary company, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited, had completed the acquisition of a 95.37 per cent interest in Union Bank Limited. The bank paid $487 million cash for the purchase of Union Bank.

On Monday, the bank announced to pay 2.5 shares of SCB to buy one share of Union Bank. The current free float of Union Bank is estimated at 16 million shares.

“By applying this swap ratio (2.5:1), the paid-up-capital of SCBP would reach Rs8.9 billion, ordinary shares of 892 million,” said Muhammad Imran, analyst at JS brokerage house.

The paid-up capital of SCBP is the highest among all banks operating in Pakistan. The second highest paid-up capital is of National Bank which stands at Rs7.09 billion, with the largest branch network and the biggest number of account holders.

As per the detailed amalgamation scheme, after excluding 323 million shares of Union Bank (which SCB has already bought), SCBP will issue 39 million ordinary shares at par value to the registered holders of the ordinary shares of Union Bank.

Mr Imran said his calculation showed that SCBP would earn a profit of Rs7.8 billion in 2006. Banking has been a high-profit sector for more than two years and it attracted a number of foreign banks to invest in Pakistan.

Banking sources said at least three top European banks were involved in searching for a suitable financial institution to buy. They said one of the largest banks from the Middle East was also making effort to attract a European buyer.

Meanwhile, PICIC Commercial Bank is also said to have been looking for a buyer and majority shareholders are in contact with foreign banks.

“The high growth of the financial sector during last couple of years in Pakistan has changed the mood of investors and the sector is under the current of new investment waves that could change the names and working of many banks operating in Pakistan,” said a well-placed banking industry source.

He said like Union Bank, which had a strong footing in the industry, many bank would receive attractive package to replace them with a foreign entity.

 

[Neo]

KARACHI, Sept 26: Romania is prepared to develop valuable industrial collaboration with the business community from Pakistan, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania Vice-President Jose Iacobescu said on Tuesday.

In a meeting with Pakistan’s Ambassador Sanaullah in Bucharest, Mr Iacobescu said the collaboration could be carried out in different modes including joint ventures, direct sale and purchase projects as well as transfer of technology.

Former Romanian minister for privatisation Prof Sorin Dimitriu, who is currently president of the Balkan Institute for Metallurgical Forecasting, accompanied Mr Iacobescu and informed Pakistan ambassador that his institution would like to support any business initiative from Pakistan to ensure transfer of defence-related technology.

Iacobescu reiterated that a large section of the newly-privatised industry units in Romania were sincerely looking for commercial partners worldwide. Due to Pakistan’s economic recovery and expanding needs for development, Romanian businessmen perceived the country investor friendly.

He expressed the hope that the bilateral Joint Governmental Commission would meet soon in Romania and on the eve of this meeting a business delegation from Pakistan would visit Romania to hold discussions with their counterparts.

In response to an invitation to send a business delegation to Pakistan to look at the expanding railway development projects, Iacobescu showed his keenness to exchange expert-level delegation in order to determine prospect for future collaboration

 

[Neo]

ISLAMABAD, Sept 26: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Pakistan is geared to become the regional centre and strategic market for software development and research and development (R&D) activities in IT and telecom by virtue of the availability of highly qualified personnel and the reduced cost of doing business.

He was talking to Ren Zhengtei, president Huawel Technology of China, who called on him along with a delegation at the PM’s House on Tuesday.

Mr Aziz said Pakistan and China had a special relationship which was strategic, close and multifaceted covering political, diplomatic, defence security, social and cultural fields and the enhanced levels of cooperation were in the mutual benefit of the two countries.

He said the government being cognizant of the vital role played by emerging technologies in the development process had placed development of education sector among its highest priorities.

He said the government was investing in human capital to prepare a critical mass of highly qualified people in key areas of science and technology to lead the development process.

 

[Neo]

ISLAMABAD: One of the leading telecom operators in the country, Ufone on Tuesday signed a $550 million agreement with a Chinese company for the largest-ever expansion of its network.

With the expansion, Ufone will be covering more than 1,500 cities, towns, villages and all major highways in the country by the end of June 2007.

Addressing the ceremony, Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said Pakistan had led to a revolution in the telecom sector where the mobile phone subscribers alone had gone beyond 40 million mark.

Awais asked the Chinese companies to look at Pakistan as a serious place for expanding their businesses for which the government of Pakistan offered full support and incentives.

President Huawei Technologies, Ren Zheng Fei said the telecom industry in Pakistan was now in a high speed development period, when the “key of competition lies on the rapid network construction in a scaled manner and provision of rich services to customers.”

“With our rapid response to customer requirements and rich experience in scaled network construction globally, we are fully confident in our capability to satisfy such requirements,” he added.

 

[Neo]

Wednesday, September 27, 2006javascript:;
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday said the total size of information technology and telecom sectors in Pakistan had reached about $ 2 billion with 50 percent growth per annum during the last three year.

Talking to a delegation of Ericsson, he said the deregulation and privatisation policy stimulated phenomenal growth in Pakistan attracting investments in the information technology and telecom sectors. He said the information technology (IT) and telecom business included domestic industry, hardware and export of software and IT enabled services. The prime minister said the telecommunication today was the fastest growing sector in Pakistan having 27 percent teledensity.

He said the country had 37 million cellular phone subscribers and the number is fast growing. He added the use of cellular phones among low-income subscribers was growing in both rural and urban areas.

He said government was in the process of setting software technology parks at Karachi Lahore and Islamabad. Ragnar Back chairman Ericsson operations in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa apprised the prime minister of the plans of Ericsson to expand business in Pakistan. He said presently the company employed about 700 professionals in Pakistan and the number would increase to 1,000 by the end of this year.

 

[Neo]

Wednesday, September 27, 2006javascript:; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2006\09\27\story_27-9-2006_pg7_1

* Refinery feasible if blister copper production 100,000 tonnes a year: MRDL chief

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: The MCC Resources Development Limited (MRDL), a subsidiary of the China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), has shelved a plan to set up a refinery at Saindak to separate gold from blister copper.

Talking to Daily Times at the Metal Mining Complex at Saindak in Chagai district, MRDL Chairman Zou Jianhui said the refinery was not feasible at Saindak, with its current quantum of blister copper production. He said the refinery was feasible at a blister copper production level of 100,000 tonnes a year, but the Saindak project was producing only 18,000 tonnes.

The MRDL chief said that there were compatible charges to refine gold and copper in the international market and it was relatively cheaper to undertake the job there instead of setting up a gold refinery at Saindak.

The Pakistani government signed an agreement with the Chinese government for a soft loan of $22 million in early the 1990s to establish the proposed refinery. The agreement was signed when Saindak copper reserves were handed to MRDL after the MCC set up the first metal mining complex at Saindak at an initial cost of $141 million. The investment was a soft Chinese loan for Pakistan.

Jianhui said that setting up a refinery with the current production level would overburden the commercial venture with more losses and debt. He showed keen interest in continuing the production even beyond 2010, when the lease period for the MRDL ends. He said that Pakistani workers would replace a number of Chinese workers and technicians next year. “Pakistanis are being trained in phases for the purpose,” he said. He did not give the exact number of Chinese experts to be replaced by Pakistanis. He said that negotiations were in progress with Pakistani officials on the training of local workers and transfer of technology to Pakistan.

The MRDL chairman said the company had brought experts from China, therefore the performance of Saindak was much better than many of the companies working under the MCC in China. About the expansion of the metallurgical complex, he said that it depended on the Eastern Ore Body. He said the MRDL would expand the complex if it finds better grade copper reserves here.

Jianhui was concerned over the rising oil prices. He said the cost of production had gone up by 50 to 60 percent since the MRDL started production of blister copper at Saindak. He said there had been a 400 percent increase in the oil prices over the past few years.

Asked why MRDL was not importing furnace oil from Iran (a few miles from the Saindak metal mining complex) instead of transporting it from Karachi (about 1,000 kilometres from the project), Jianhui said the Pakistani government had allowed the company to import furnace oil from Iran, and the company was trying to do so.

The MRDL chief said the company was providing free electricity to two of the surrounding villages at a cost of Rs 4.4 million a year. He said the company was also running a school for locals.

 

[Neo]

ISLAMABAD (updated on: September 27, 2006, 21:12 PST): The government of Pakistan gave approval in principal on Wednesday for Emaar Properties of United Arab Emirates to go ahead with a $43 billion project to build a model city near Karachi.

Emaar, which will have 85 percent equity in the project, will develop two islands, Bundal and Buddo, near Karachi into a city with state-of-the-art facilities, Ashfaque Hasan Khan, an advisor to the prime minister, told reporters.

"It will be just like another Dubai," Khan told Reuters later. "It will consist of everything. Residential buildings, theme parks, offices, just about everything."

"We want to build it because it will create new jobs, bring in investment, create new housing and a new city," he added.

The Port Qasim Authority will hold 15 percent in the form of land, Khan said after a meeting of the Economic Co-ordination Committee.

The project is expected to take about 13 years.

Khan said approval in principal for the project had been given after all formalities were completed. Legal documents would be completed within three months.

Link: UAE firm to build model city near Karachi