Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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Consumer financing grows by 12.9%​

KARACHI: Consumer financing rose to Rs 371.2 billion at end January 2008 from Rs 328.8 billion at end January 2007, showing a growth of 12.9 percent, according to figures compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Rise in non-performing loans and high interest rates have affected the growth in consumer financing business of banks. The slow growth in consumer financing is not shocking. The credit offtake has been slow in virtually all segments of lending in the recent past. While banks have now adopted a cautious stance, the next growth spurt will coincide with monetary easing.

There were high consumer-related delinquencies, especially in the auto-financing segment, during the last calendar year. With a high level of defaults in 2007, the banks tightened lending criteria and are now much more vigilant when advancing consumer loans. The central bank has followed a tight monetary stance for over two years, and the rise in delinquencies followed the trend in the interest rate environment. Fresh credit offtake, therefore, has taken a hit. The initial consumer financing boom coincided with the prevalence of low interest rates.

But analysts believe there is still room for consumer financing to grow. “Inherent potential for consumer financing still remains strong, and with more players in the consumer financing business, the second phase of consumer financing growth is likely to be faster than the initial boom observed from 2004 to 2006,” says Raza Jafri, an analyst at AKD Securities.

He says some banks have conducted consumer loan book cleanup exercises and are looking for a fresh start in consumer financing.

An important factor is that banks are now armed with consumer credit histories (through the Credit Information Bureau) and more careful consumer lending can be expected. Banks’ vigilant stance should curtail non-performing loans now, and lead to higher quality, although slightly slower growth in the near term, Jafri said.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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GDP surges to Rs 9,970bn during July-Dec 2007-08​

ISLAMABAD: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has increased to Rs 9,970 billion by December 31, 2007 in the first half of the current fiscal year as compared to GDP of Rs 8,707 billion by June 30, 2007, according to the official figures released here Tuesday.

The share of total revenues amounted to 6.3 percent of the GDP during July-December period of the current fiscal year as compared to 7 percent in the same period of last fiscal year (2006-07), projecting a decrease of 0.7 percent. Tax revenues stood at 4.5 percent of the GDP during July-December 2007-08 as against the share of 4.9 percent of the GDP in same period of last fiscal year showing a decline of 0.5 percent. Non-tax revenues were 1.8 percent of the GDP during first half of this fiscal year as compared to 2.1 percent in the same period of last fiscal year. Total expenditures of the country remained at 9.8 percent of the GDP during first half of this fiscal as against 8.9 percent in the same period of last fiscal year projecting an increase of 0.9 percent of the GDP. The share of current expenditures has been 7.8 percent of the GDP in this fiscal year as compared to 6.6 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year showing an increase of 1.2 percent of the GDP.

Interest payments on loans have been 2.4 percent of the GDP in the first half of the ongoing fiscal year, which was 1.8 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year 2006-07, indicating an increase of 0.6 percent of the GDP. Defense expenditures were 1.3 percent of the GDP during first half as compared to 1.3 percent in the same period of last fiscal. Development expenditures and net lending remained at 2.3 percent of the GDP during the first half of the ongoing fiscal year which were 1.7 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year, indicating an increase of 0.6 percent. Budget deficit during the first half of the current fiscal year stood at 3.6 percent of the GDP as compared to 1.9 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year, showing an increase of 1.7 percent of the GDP. The share of the direct taxes in GDP remained at 1.6 percent during the first half of 2007-08 as compared to 2 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year.

Taxes on goods and services were 2.1 percent of the GDP in July-December 2007-08 period as compared to 2.1 percent in the same period of last fiscal year. The share of excise duty stood at 0.3 percent of the GDP during first half of ongoing fiscal year that was 0.4 percent of the GDP in the same period of last fiscal year. Contributions of general sales tax in GDP has been 1.7 percent during first half of this fiscal year, which was at the same level of the GDP in the corresponding period last fiscal year.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Realtors, investors ready to boost property business​

KARACHI: The real estate investors and dealers are flexing their muscles to fuel up the standstill property business in the metropolis after government formation in the country.

The holding of elections could not heat up the market’s situation as the realtors and investors expected it but it is being hoped that with the formation of government, the real estate market will be active again.

Real estate analyst, Ovais Sohail, told Daily Times that the market had not taken bullish turn after elections but there were some positive buying activities witnessed in commercial side by corporate sectors. “The market will take a significant bounce in the next one or two months as strong sentiments prevail among investors’ circles,” he told and added “particularly the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) will attract big investors whenever their confidence boosts.”

Mr Shoail, who is also Chief Operating Officer of Pak Real Estate, a local real estate research house, told that a number of foreign developers and construction companies have been waiting to enter in Pakistan’s real estate market because of the high returns of as compared to other countries of the region except Dubai. He added that the majority of the foreign developers are interested to invest in Punjab, as they believed that the provincial government would be more stable there as compared to other provinces.

He mentioned the pace investment in Pakistan is continuing at Dubai’s real estate market as the confidence of local investors is yet to be restored.

The property business has witnessed a prolong passiveness for last year as the prevailing political uncertainties coupled with law and order situation deteriorated in the country causing negative impact across the board in all investment-favorite posh societies of the major cities.

A retailer of Gulistan-e-Johar area, Syed Mabroor, said even transactions of the properties are very slow contributing to the decline in prices in some localities, now we (real estate agents and brokers) are closely observing the government formation and ready to play our game in the market. We have been advising the investors not to sell their property with low returns so they have also been waiting for resuming of trading activities. And when all the investors involve are re-active in the trading, the market will be skyrocketing, he added.

He said the transactions and values have been increased after elections and hoped that it will take more pace in the next month.

Vice President Real Estate and Construction’s sub-committee, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPPCI), Munir Sultan said that the local developers and constructors have been adopting wait-and-see policy since the holding of the elections but now they are all set to announce their residential and commercial projects.

He said that some developers had announced their housing projects and societies after elections but they are not getting positive response. He told that a big number of projects will start their booking activities in the next one or two months. As far as Gwadar real estate is concerned, the resident retailer, Saeed Baloch, told that the property’s transaction has gripped the momentum since the commencement of Gwadar seaport. He added that the prices of the commercial and residential plots have increased sharply for the last one week.

But, some realtors are still very pessimistic about political and governing situation of the country, they said that the rift between elected assembly and President and movement to restore deposed judges are yet to be solved which may impact the real estate market.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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‘WB evaluating scope for Pakistani industries’​

LAHORE: Industrial environmental situation in Pakistan needed to be addressed properly, and the World Bank is evaluating the scope of its assistance to help government of Pakistan promote clean production in the country.

This was stated by Mission Leader, Industrial Environmental Management Policy Mission of the World Bank, Washington Ernesto Sanshez-Triana in a meeting with Chief Executive Officer of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) Shahid Rashid here on Tuesday.

The mission included Task Team Leader Kulsum Ahmed, Lead Environmental Specialist. Dan Biller, Javaid Afzal, the local environment consultant of the World Bank. Whereas, SMEDA chief was accompanied by his team comprising General Managers; Sultan Tiwana, Syed Iqbal A Kidwai, and Muhammad Jameel Afaqi. SMEDA CEO said his organisation had completed 10 years of its existence, and he would be glad if some independent agency like the World Bank conducts an impact analysis of the services rendered by SMEDA during last decade.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Carpet exporters decry attitude of Indian Customs​

LAHORE: Chairman, Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMEA) Mian Javed ur Rehman has deplored the behaviour of Indian Customs officials with Pakistani exporters.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, he said that Pakistani traders face difficulties and appealed the government to raise the issue with the Indian government. He said that a bilateral agreement is present between Indian and Pakistan but the behaviour of Indian Customs officials is not satisfactory.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Aptma’s initiative to conserve energy​

LAHORE, March 18: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association has launched an initiative for conservation of energy. The National Productivity Organisation (NPO), GTZ and National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon) have joined hands with Aptma in efforts directed at maximising optimal use of energy.

Aptma’s Punjab chairman Akber Sheikh told Dawn on Tuesday that the programme was all the more relevant in the context of present energy crisis and the efforts being directed towards conservation.

A systematic energy audit, encompassing all sectors of the textile industry, had been envisaged to determine the efficient consumption benchmarks for the industry.

He said that the spinning and processing industries were being audited in the first phase. The energy audit of the weaving industry and composite industrial units would be undertaken in the next phase.

The results of earlier energy audits undertaken by Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) and NPO consultants had been encouraging. They had identified 10 to 15 per cent energy saving in sample mills.

He said that as a part of wider strategy the Aptma Punjab was helping the public sector entities in enhancement of expertise and capacity-building to enable them undertake the energy audit of industrial units independently.

The best practices officers of NPO and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and specialists from Textile University, Faisalabad, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore and UET Taxila were provided orientation and know-how to create a national pool of energy auditors.

He said that the NPO in association with Aptma was also preparing a programme for providing concessionary finance to the industry for helping it to implement measures suggested by the audit, such as changing equipment, machines and upgrade other production facilities.

The initiative is a part of a long-term strategy to conserve energy and secure sustainable development.

Aptma’s initiative to conserve energy -DAWN - Business; March 19, 2008

 

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Delay in payments by US hurts fiscal targets: rising expenditures due to war on terror ​

KARACHI (March 19 2008): The country's rising expenditures on war against terror and delay in payments by US are endangering the budget targets and increasing the government's budgetary borrowing, which has already been up by 215 percent during eight months of the current fiscal year.

"Rising expenditure for fighting against terrorism is continuously hurting the fiscal targets, as Pakistan has spent about one billion dollars during last one year (March 2007 to February 2008) in this connection," sources in Finance Ministry told Business Recorder.

Financial constraints have made the country borrow billions of rupees from local resources to continue the war, they said, adding that despite efforts from previous elected and caretaker governments the budgetary borrowing was continuing due to delay in payments.

They said that the country had received a tranche from US on account of reimbursement in the last week of February 2008. However, it was received after one-year gap, as previously Pakistan had received reimbursement amount in March 2007.

They said that although Pakistan had spent around one billion dollars during the year, instead of full payment the US has paid only $281 million, which was due in fiscal year 2007. "Therefore, the government is compelled to continue borrowing from scheduled banks as well as State Bank of Pakistan to meet budgetary expenditures," they added.

They said that delay in the reimbursement was the chief reason of rising budgetary deficit and it could not be controlled unless US reimbursed over 700 million dollars outstanding amount. "We are continuously informing and sending the details of expenditures to US. However, payments are not received on time, which had created some financial problems for country," they said.

"The US would pay only the principal amount of the expenditures, whereas the country's spending includes bank interests also, which is pushing the budgetary deficit upward," they added.

As per State Bank of Pakistan, the government budgetary borrowing has gone up by 215 percent, to Rs 296.556 billion, during eight months as against Rs 94 billion during the same period of fiscal year 2007. The overall budgetary borrowing stocks have reached at Rs 1.106 trillion as on March 1, 2008, earlier stood at Rs 810.053 billion on June 30, 2008.

Despite the fact that SBP has requested the federal government to reduce borrowing, the budgetary borrowing from central bank has gone up by 1301 percent. After the current upsurge, the budgetary borrowing from central bank has touched new peak of Rs 359 billion during July-February of current fiscal year as compared to Rs 25.636 billion in corresponding period of fiscal year 2007.

However, borrowing from scheduled banks has depicted a declined of Rs 62.771 billion to Rs 465 billion during eight months. Analysts and economists already have shown concerns over the rising budgetary borrowing and expecting that fiscal deficit is expected to reach some 5 percent of the GDP at the end of the current fiscal year.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Over $1.1 billion invested in telecom infrastructure expansion ​

ISLAMABAD (March 19 2008): Telecom operators have invested over $1.1 billion during the first two quarters of 2007-08 to expand their infrastructure, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Tuesday.

The PTA in its second quarterly report said that total investment during to the first two quarters of the current fiscal was 1.3 billion with $617 million in the last one, which is 35 per cent higher as compared to April-June quarter of 2007. The huge investment was major factor behind the surge in cellular subscribers, it added.

Giving break-up, the PTA report revealed that in July-September, 2007-08 Mobilink made an investment of $308 million, Ufone $58 million, Instaphone $1 million, Telenor $114 million and Warid 216.3 million.

While in the second quarter, September-December 2007-08, Mobilink invested $308 million, Ufone $58 million, Instaphone $1 million and Telenor251 million. In total $696.8 million investment was made in the first quarter and $618.1 million in the second quarter of 2007-08 fiscal.

Moreover, the PTA said that Warid was also making investments to expand the network for competing in cellular mobile market in Pakistan. IFC, a sister organisation of the World Bank, has extended $100 million loan and arranged a $140 million syndicated loan to expand its GSM network, it added.

According to the telecom indicators, the total FDI inflow was $2.14 billion during first half of current fiscal with telecom sector as major contributor. The cellular and WLL operators have been pumping money into the sector to expand network and exploit the full potential.

They have been adding subscribers in huge numbers to their network every month as total users of six cellular operators have gone beyond 80 million. The wireless operators have also shown exceptional growth in recent times and all the companies have been investing to attract more and more customers. Analysts see the trend of investment may continue in the next few years as a large market potential in rural areas, was yet to be exploited.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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New oil, gas discovery in NWFP ​

Thursday, March 20, 2008

ISLAMABAD: MOL Pakistan Oil & Gas Co has made a new discovery of oil and gas in the TAL block, located in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

MOL Pakistan having a 10 per cent working interest (pre-discovery) and as operator of TAL joint venture has been operating this block since 1999 with four other Pakistani companies i.e. OGDCL, PPL, POL and GHPL.

The pre-discovery working interest of the joint venture companies is MOL (10 per cent), OGDC (30pc), PPL (30pc), POL (25pc) and GHPL (5pc), said a press release issued here on Wednesday.

Following the completion of seismic acquisition and its interpretation resulting in an attractive geological prospect, the joint venture resolved to drill an exploratory well, Mamikhel-1 in fourth quarter 2006.

The well was successfully drilled. The well produced 45.8 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) gas and 2,881 Stock Tank Barrels per day (STB/day) of condensate at 56/64” choke through flowing wellhead pressure of 3,239 psig.

As a result of testing operations which have been carried out so far at Mamikhel-1 well, the presence of significant quantities of oil and gas has been established in Lockhart formation. This is 3rd discovery of the consortium in Tal Block. Following this discovery, the joint venture will be conducting further appraisal through Extended Well Testing (EWT) to evaluate the optimum producing rate, scale and economic viability of the reserves.

New oil, gas discovery in NWFP

 

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FATA coal output 0.26m tonnes a month ​

Thursday, March 20, 2008

DARRA ADAMKHEL: FATA Minerals Department Director Muhammad Yaqub has said that coal production in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has risen to 266,000 tonnes per month from 30,000 tonnes per month.

Talking to reporters at the office of Fata Development Authority on Wednesday, he said America produced 90 per cent of electricity from coal, China 72 per cent and India 55 per cent, while in Pakistan it was used in brick kilns. He added that it could be used in cement and sugar industries and steam plants.

He said the NWFP governor would soon be briefed on the problems faced by the workers, contractors, leaseholders and mine owners in the production of coal and the responsibilities of the political administration. The insurance for the workers suffering from TB would also be brought into the notice of the governor, he added.

Yaqub said the Fata Mines Department had introduced state of the art compressors, generators and water pumps in the market to increase the production using scientific techniques. “In Hangu, authorities have set up a latest rescue centre, equipped with latest machinery to serve the people of Orakzai, Kurram agencies and Darra Adamkhel,” he said.

The official added that the former NWFP governor had approved electricity, emergency centre and construction of a 21-kilometre link road to the site but the project was put in abeyance when the tribal people stopped the production illegally.

He said it was regrettable that investors explored coals through their investment, but the tribal people usurp the deposits, thus rendering the government writ ineffective and discouraging the investment.

The Fata authorities want to explore large deposits of untapped coal in the Frontier Region of Dera Ismail Khan, Orakzai Agency and Peshawar after forwarding a summary of recommendations to the NWFP governor, he added.

FATA coal output 0.26m tonnes a month

 

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FBR hopes to cross Rs1 trillion mark ​

Thursday, March 20, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has expressed hope that despite all odds the organisation was still in a position to cross the Rs1 trillion tax collection mark by the end of the current financial year.

This was stated by Member Facilitation and Taxpayers Education (FATE) Khawar Khurshid Butt while briefing newsmen about decisions of the Board-in-Council meeting at a press conference on Wednesday.

He said that the FBR has decided to establish a separate “window” on its Website to facilitate taxpayers and resolve their grievances which are simple in nature. He said the Secretary General, Revenue Division/Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue, M. Abdullah Yusuf presided over the meeting.

Butt said that the Chairman FBR directed Member (IMS)/CEO PRAL to coordinate with technical wings of the Board to clearly identify problems being faced by taxpayers in e-filing of returns, Tax Management System and computerised system of payment of taxes and all possible efforts be made in collaboration with the NBP to resolve these at the earliest.

Referring to the revenue collection for the current financial year, the chairman observed that despite all odds FBR was still in a position to cross the Rs1 trillion mark provided “we all work hard and feel our national obligations”.

Khawar Khurshid Butt added that current exercise of sectoral examination of sugar/cement also came under discussion. The Chairman, he said also desired early completion of the exercise.

The chairman, he said also directed the Sales Tax Wing to ask Collectors of Sales Tax to conduct selective tax payers’ audit wherever they have any doubt. He also directed Member (Audit) to evaluate the audits, conducted by LTU, Lahore, and inform the Council about its results.

Expressing his displeasure over thousands of pending refund claims at Export Collectorate and MCC, Karachi, the chairman directed Member (Customs) to take action against officials responsible for this huge back log that has caused inconveniences to exporters/importers alike.

The meeting, however, noted that 80 per cent refund claims were of very small amount which should be paid immediately. The meeting was further informed by Member (FATE) that all representations u/s 7 of FBR, Act: 2008 to the FBR Chairman will be received at the FATE Wing and then forwarded to respective members for comments.

FBR hopes to cross Rs1 trillion mark

 

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Record 3.2m cotton bales worth Rs45bn imported by mills ​

Thursday, March 20, 2008

KARACHI: Textile mills imported a record 3.2 million bales of cotton worth Rs45 billion upto February 2008 from worldwide sources due to a crop shortage in the country, sources disclosed on Wednesday.

Referring to the Federal Bureau of Statistics provisional trade data for the period between August 2007 to February 2008; Chairman Cotton Brokers Forum, Naseem Usman said mills imported around 519,053 metric tonnes of cotton.

“This is the highest volume of cotton imported in the history of Pakistan during a specific period. This huge import has resultantly also slowed down cotton trading at the Karachi Cotton Association, he added.

Usman pointed out that more than half of this import is from India where cotton yield has recorded an unprecedented surge since the cultivation of BT cotton. He anticipated additional imports of 500,000 to 600,000 bales worth Rs55 billion will total cotton imports of around 3.8 to 4 million bales.

He pointed out that mills have further contracted for 2 million cotton bales worth Rs3 billion from Indian suppliers, while some 20 per cent traders are now backing out from earlier deals. Textile Mills have imported cotton from the USA, Brazil, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Sudan, CIS, Nigeria, Cameroon and Turkey. Pakistan is estimated to produce a total of 11.2 million bales of cotton by March 1, 2008. The textile industry in 2007 had consumed 14.5 million bales of cotton due to expansions in capacity by mills.

Record 3.2m cotton bales worth Rs45bn imported by mills

 

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Net foreign investment falls by 43.5% in 8 months​

KARACHI: Net foreign investment has declined by 43.5 percent to $2.612 billion during the first eight months of the current fiscal from $4.627 billion. Foreign direct investment (FDI) during this period fell by 14.9 percent to $2.527 billion from $2.970 billion. Portfolio investment dropped by 94.9 percent to $84.5 million from $1.656 billion. “The country has received whatever foreign investment it could have attracted,” said Asad Saeed, an independent economist. “Even last year quite substantial proportion of foreign direct investment was received in mergers and acquisitions activity in the services sector; we have been unable to attract investment in manufacturing sector.” Besides, he said, the construction projects that were planned by foreign real estate giants have faced problems in starting up.

Foreign investment has been declining this year due to uncertain political situation in the country which has perturbed foreign investors as they fear economy may take a downward course as a result of political turmoil. Add to this the power crisis, which the authorities say will be here for many years to come. It will be repelling any potential foreign investors during all these years.

The Shaukat Aziz-led team of economic managers has left a hugely difficult challenge for the new government to face - that of meeting demand for foreign exchange in the country with falling inflows. Keeping this scenario in view, it should be expected of the new government to change policies to control imports and raise exports in order to keep its foreign exchange environment stable instead of depending on remittances and portfolio investment.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Private sector urged to comply with international standards ​

* Non-compliance of labour and safety standards caused Rs 2 billion loss last year​

RAWALPINDI: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday asked the private sector to fully comply with the agreed international conventions and protocols particularly in labour and environment standards and implement it to boost country’s exports.

The workshop, organised by Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP) discussed the issue of private sector’s persistent non-compliance of labour, environment, safety, health and other social standards. The speakers focused on various sectors like construction, brick kilns and marble of Rawalpindi region where the compliance of international conventions and protocols has become a serious issue.

The experts pointed out that Pakistan can also get full advantage of the international market by securing its maximum share in terms of increasing volume of exports. Punjab, particularly, with its clusters of cotton, textile, surgical, sports, leather, cutlery, citrus, can improve the overall situation in this regard. However, this is possible only when the private sector fully complies with the agreed international conventions and protocols. Advisor on Bonded Labour, Federal Ministry of Labour Dr. Syed Tauqir Shah expressed the concern over the situation of child labour, gender issues, bonded labour, working conditions, education of workers children and issues of women workplace in Pakistan and said this negative situation is in direct conflict with the internationally ratified conventions and protocols.

He pointed out that the Potohar region has a large number of stone crushers, marble factories, brick kilns and construction sites where health, environment and working standards are not in line with the internationally recognised protocols.

However, he said that realizing the prevalent grave situation, the government of Pakistan, in close collaboration with ILO and other institutes, is taking valuable initiatives to control child labour from the country and to ensure a healthy working environment for the working women. He mentioned that complying with international conventions and protocols regarding ensuring better working conditions to employers along with meeting other relevant standards by the private sector units would contribute a lot towards improvement in Pakistan’s ranking in the world.

In his remarks, Zawdu Felleke, Chief Technical of UNIDO said that today’s economically integrated world, countries that have strengthened their links with the global economy through trade and investment, have generally grown more rapidly over a sustained period.

One of the major hindrances for the low-income countries, including Pakistan, towards adopting this path is the limited enterprise capacity to comply with international buyers’ requirements as they are demanding strict compliance to safety, environment, ethical and social standards along with giving priority to product quality. He pointed out that last year, Pakistan had to bear a loss of Rs 2 billion worth annual exports when the Nike Inc. USA cancelled its soccer balls export contract with Saga Sports Sialkot due to non-compliance of labour and safety standards. If such cases continue to happen, it would render a heavy damage to Pakistan’s overall exports, he remarked. He highlighted various issues related to quality standards lik ISO 9001 SA 8000 and the WTO issues related to quality concerns like TBT and SPS.

Punjab Secretary for Environment Maj (R) Shahnawaz Badr said that quality and environmental issues dominate the international market and to achieve the sustained growth in exports can lead to economic stability of a state. He also said that developing strong links with the international economic market has been proved to be a key factor behind the sustained progress.

He stressed the need for creating awareness among the private sector’s contributors as the issue of non-compliance of international conventions and protocols has come up with serious implications.

He appreciated the PRMP for launching a series of workshops in the province in order to create awareness among the local industrial, agriculture and commercial units as well as establishing a coordination vehicle regarding coherent information exchange about various international conventions and other standards.

Director, Center for Improvement of Working Conditions Saeed Awan revealed situation in many developing countries like Pakistan is even more grave owing to a number of factors like lack of reliable information and data of the deaths and injuries suffered by the workers every year. He further said that marble factories and brick kilns in Rawalpindi region are the places where health and safety standards are being ignored that commonly leads to many health problems in the working force.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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WB to give $750m for construction of Munda Dam​

* WAPDA not happy with delay in project​

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) has expressed its willingness to provide $750 million to Pakistan to meet the extra cost of building the Munda Dam, sources in the Water and Power Ministry told Daily Times on Wednesday.

According to the government, four dams – Munda, Kalabagh, Akori, and Bhasha – have to be built by 2016. The Munda Dam will be able to store 0.67 million-acre feet of water, and will generate 740 megawatt of hydel electric power. The dam will also help to control flooding in Peshawar.

The sources said the cost of building the dam, which was estimated at $6.1 billion in September 2005, had increased by 10 percent due to a surge in the prices of construction material.

“The WB is willing to help Pakistan meet the extra cost of building the dam,” the sources said, adding that the government was also sourcing finance from local banks.

Unhappy WAPDA: The sources said the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had decided to build the dam after a US company, Amzo Corporation, which had been issued a letter of intent, refused to take up the project.

“WAPDA is not happy with the delay in the project,” the sources said, adding that the authority wanted the project to complete within the given timeframe to meet power shortage in the country.

They said the Water and Power Ministry and WAPDA had warned the Finance Ministry and Planning Commission that further delay in building the dam would increase the cost of construction.

The government allocated Rs 10 billion to acquire the land for five dams, including the Munda Dam, in its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2007-08. “But not a single penny has been spent on land acquisition,” the sources said.

The feasibility study of the dam was originally conducted by Japanese consultants, who suggested about 10 cents per unit (Kwh) generation cost. But an Azmo representative claimed that many assumptions of that study were wrong and the tariff setting stage was far away.

The Munda Dam is being constructed on the River Swat, which is considered an ideal site for a hydro power station. The dam will generate Rs 361 million annually in terms of “water-user charge” for the NWFP government. It will also help ensure equity in water allocations; reduce flood risks in Nowshehra and irrigate 29,000 acres.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan