Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

'Japan to continue supporting economic stabilisation'​

ISLAMABAD (January 21 2009): Ambassador of Japan, Chihiro Atsumi called on the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics on Tuesday. He conveyed that the government of Japan will continue to support the economic stabilisation and development programme of the government of Pakistan.

The adviser shared with the ambassador the governments home grown economic policies and steps taken to mitigate the economic and budgetary challenges, which it inherited. He informed that the agreement with IMF was based on the home grown economic programme, fundamentals of which were laid down in the government's fiscal and monetary policies.

The adviser also appreciated the economic assistance equivalent to 480 million dollars during the previous year ie 2008 and also its willingness to provide funding for major infrastructure projects. The ambassador welcomed the scheduled visit of adviser to Japan next month, which will provide an opportunity to discuss increased economic assistance and business relations between the two governments

 

[Neo]

ICCI President for attracting maximum Japanese investment​

ISLAMABAD (January 21 2009): Pakistan is strategically located at a regional hub with abundant land and natural resources, strong human resources, large and growing domestic market which offers tremendous investment opportunities to countries like Japan. ICCI President Mian Shaukat Masud said this while talking to Pakistan Ambassador-designate to Japan Noor Muhammad Jadmani, who called on him at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).

"Therefore, Pakistan Embassy in Japan should gear up its efforts for luring Japanese investors to invest in different sectors of Pakistan's economy to reap tremendous benefits", he said. He added that current US $2 billion trade volume between Pakistan and Japan is much lower than it should be. He said Japan is still an unexplored territory for majority of our businessmen and Pakistan Embassy in Japan should play its due role in facilitating frequent exchange of business delegations between the two countries.

Mian Shaukat Masud stressed for the need of improving the approach of our embassy staff in Japan because experience shows that when our businessmen visit Japan on business tours, they don't get satisfactory response from our embassy staff in Japan.

He said that a one-window facility should be established in our embassy in Japan to facilitate Pakistanis in Japan. He hoped that new Ambassador designate to Japan would bring positive change in the behaviour of our staff.

He said that our trade commissions and embassy in Japan also lacks proper information about Pakistan, its economy, infrastructure, investment potential and Pakistani products. "Therefore, efforts should be made to update all information about Pakistan", he said adding that, Pakistani chambers and Pakistani products in Japan would greatly help to improve the trade volume.

He said a lot of the trade is happening indirectly between the two countries and emphasised for enhancing direct trade between Pakistan and Japan to get good benefits. He said many Japanese companies have established assembly plants in Malaysia, Vietnam and other places. He said our embassy in Japan should make efforts to attract these companies to Pakistan as Pakistan offers cheap labour and good investment opportunities.

Speaking on the occasion, Noor Muhammad Jadmani, Ambassador designate to Japan thanked ICCI President and other businessmen for giving useful suggestions to improve the working of Pakistan Embassy in Japan and to enhance trade relations with Japan.

He assured them that he would take all possible steps to facilitate Pakistani businessmen in enhancing bilateral trade with Japan. He said his purpose of meeting with businessmen before going to Japan was to get their input for improving Pak-Japan business relations.

He said efforts were already afoot by Pak-Japan Business Council to enhance trade relations. He said Pakistan Embassy in Japan will also take all necessary measures to enhance direct interaction between the business communities of the two countries so that they could explore areas of common interest to boost business ties. He assured local business community of his full co-operation on their business visits to Japan.

 

[Neo]

PCA censures government for neglecting IT sector​

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) has expressed serious concern over government's attitude towards the Ministry of Information Technology where ministry is working without portfolio of IT minister. The issue came to the light during a meeting of PCA, which was shocked over the new government polices on IT sector, reflecting serious negative implications for the entire IT industry.

According to an announcement made by the PCA here on Wednesday, Munwar Iqbal, President PCA has regretted that IT sector in Pakistan was being neglected despite the fact that its importance as the backbone of economy is being acknowledged at universal level. He termed the fact highly ironical that none among huge Federal Cabinet has been assigned for the portfolio of IT ministry.

 

[Neo]

Export duty removal by India to hit Pakistani basmati exports​

KARACHI (January 21 2009): Pakistan's rice exports could be affected badly as India on Tuesday abolished $200 per ton export duty on basmati rice, imposed last year, local exporters said. They said the Indian government took this decision under pressure of its exporters and to promote its rice exports.

"Actually, it is a move of our biggest competitor to capture major international markets of this commodity", they added. They said that after this decision, Indian basmati rice would be available at much lower prices, and Pakistani exporters would not be able to compete in the international market.

Abdul Rahim Janoo, Chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap), told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the Indian basmati rice was being traded at $1250 per ton in international market against $1200 per ton of Pakistani rice.

He said that after this decision, Indian basmati rice would be available at $1050 per ton, $150 per ton lower than Pakistani rice price in international market. He said that the recent increase in rice prices in the local market was mainly due to intervention of public sector institutions, including TCP and Passco in the rice trade.

He said that the private sector of the country had played a major role in increasing rice exports from $300 million in 1989 to $2.2 billion last year. Now, Pakistan has become third largest rice exporter in the world, after Thailand and Vietnam, during last six months' period with record exports of $1.18 billion.

On the other hand, Janoo said, rice exports declined by 23 percent in December 2008 afterintervention of public sector institutions in this trade. He said that the price of basmati rice has increased by 20 percent while the price of non-basmati variety has increased by 30 percent in the local market.

He demanded that the government should take immediate supportive measures to promote the country's second largest foreign exchange earning export. "At least the government should listen to our point of view to save the country's rice exports", he added.

 

[Neo]

Early signs of improvement in current account deficit​

EDITORIAL (January 21 2009): The deteriorating trend in the country's current account deficit witnessed for the last few years seems to have been finally arrested. According to the latest data released by the State Bank, Pakistan's current account deficit declined significantly by 43 percent during December, 2008 due mainly to reduction in global commodity prices.

In dollar terms, it fell from dollar 800 million in November, 2008 to dollar 458 million in the subsequent month, indicating a fall of dollar 342 million. However, overall current account deficit during the first half of FY09 amounted to dollar 7.269 billion compared to dollar 6.053 billion in the same period of 2007-08, showing an increase of 20 percent due to comparatively higher deficit in the earlier months of the current fiscal year.

With export receipts of dollar 10.04 billion and import payments of dollar 17.65 billion, the country's merchandise account deficit widened to dollar 7.613 billion compared with dollar 6.23 billion in the corresponding period of last year while services sector showed a significant improvement, with its deficit narrowing to dollar 2.303 billion from dollar 3.296 billion during July-December, 2007.

Income deficit stood at dollar 2.365 billion, as income from abroad stood at dollar 569 million as compared to payments of dollar 2.934 million during the first half of 2008-09. However, it needs to be noted that trade data released by the FBR is generally at variance with the merchandise account statistics compiled by the State Bank due to difference in timing, coverage etc and current account of the country does not include capital and certain other receipts.

That is why, despite a deficit of dollar 458 million in current account, dollar 708 million were added to foreign exchange reserves of the country in December, 2008 as against the utilisation of dollar 492 million in the previous month.

A positive turn in the current account deficit during December, 2008 is a welcome development and would indeed provide a great deal of relief to the policy makers of the country. The current account position of the country, it may be recalled, had slipped into red in 2004-05 after posting a surplus in the previous three years and was worsening continuously since then.

The situation was so bad in 2007-08 that current account deficit widened to about $14 billion or 8.5 percent of GDP which, by all indications, was unsustainable. The initial months of 2008-09 witnessed accentuation of this trend with the result that the country started losing its foreign exchange reserves very rapidly and the rupee rate came under intense pressure.

Realising that the country could default on its foreign exchange payment obligations, Pakistani authorities were finally forced to seek assistance from the IMF by entering into a Stand-By Arrangement in November, 2008. The programme with the Fund envisages the current account deficit to narrow to $10.6 billion or about 6.5 percent of GDP during 2008-09. If the latest trend continues, the country could expect to achieve this target comfortably.

Although exogenous factors like a sharp decline in international oil prices have certainly helped to reduce the import bill, consistent efforts by the Pakistani authorities to restrain import demand through tightening of monetary policy and imposing of 100 percent of cash margin on non-essential imports have also slowed down the flow of imports into the country. Nonetheless, it needs to be noted that the latest reduction in external sector deficit is attributable mainly to the reduction in imports rather than the expansion in exports.

The recent slowdown in exports is a cause of concern due to its negative impact on business activity and employment situation in the country. Be that as it may, the latest improvement in current account deficit could go a long way in stabilising the rupee rate, bolstering the foreign exchange reserves and eliminating the insolvency threat to the country. Besides, it could indirectly contribute to enhance the confidence level of foreign investors and soften the inflationary pressures in the economy by augmenting supplies of various commodities in the country.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan’s food, oil import bill balloons to $8.09bn ​

Mubarak Zeb Khan

Wednesday, 21 Jan, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food and oil import bill ballooned to a record $8.099 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, a 38.5 per cent increase over last year’s $5.847 billion, despite a decline in prices of oil and foodgrains in the international market.
The crude price dipped by more than 70 per cent to under $40 per barrel recently, after hitting an all-time high of over $146 in July last year, but Pakistan’s oil import bill still rose because of a massive depreciation of rupee.
With the increased cost of imports of food and oil, the share of these products edged up to 42.3 per cent of the total import bill during the July-December period of the current fiscal year from 34.4 per cent last year, putting more pressure on the country’s balance of payment.
Official figures compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) show that the import value of oil increased to $5.881 billion in July-Dec from $4.242 billion over the same period last year, an increase of 38.62 per cent.Though the overall oil bill increased but a drop of 14.38 per cent was noticed in December last year, the third straight monthly decline.
The figures show that the reduction in oil import bill in December followed steep cuts in the import of petroleum products which may be attributed to a dip in demand because of economic slowdown. However, the crude import edged up by 104 per cent during the months under review.
The second biggest component in the import bill was food commodities which reached $2.218 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, an increase of 38.19 per cent over last year’s $1.605 billion.
This increase has been attributed to massive import of wheat worth $734.015 million, followed by $721.267 million of palm oil and $427.649 million of other goods.
The depreciation of rupee and imposition of additional customs duty have lowered the imports only of the transport group by more than 46.35 per cent. This decline has been recorded across the board in both complete built units (CBU) and CKD/SKD vehicles.
Another sector which recorded a decline in import bill because of the government measures was telecommunication (mobile phones and machinery). In this sector, the value of import declined by 45 per cent.
A trend of increase in the import bill of machinery and agricultural products was witnessed during the months under review. The machinery import was up by 6.19 per cent to $3.449 billion against last year’s $3.248 billion.
The machinery import bill was up because of 108 per cent increase in the import cost of power generating machinery followed by 51.61 per cent in construction machinery and 22.89 per cent in electrical machinery.
Similarly, the import bill of agriculture sector was up by 3.90 per cent to $2.838 billion against $2.731 billion last year.

 

[Neo]

SBP to provide 1-year moratorium on loans ​

Thursday, January 22, 2009

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has agreed to provide a 12-month moratorium on long-term loans to textile industrialists.

This will allow the industrialists breathing space without paying principal amount of loans to banks for one year at the time of global recession.

State Bank governor assured the federal adviser on textiles that banks were ready for a loan moratorium, and the adviser was in a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Adviser to the PM on Textile Industry Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig told The News that the 12-month moratorium would help the industrialists, who were facing big problems after an increase in mark-up. The meeting continued for half an hour.

Dr Baig said he requested the prime minister for some immediate relief for the textile sector, especially a moratorium on payment of principal amount of long-term loans and reduction in mark-up.

He also apprised the prime minister of his meeting with the State Bank governor on these issues.

During the meeting, the prime minister called the SBP governor, who after conversation with the PM informed the textile adviser that he had met with presidents of major banks regarding moratorium on payment of long-term loans for one year.

The governor told Dr Baig that banks were willing to ease long-term loan installments. “We asked for a moratorium for 18 months but the governor agreed on 12 months,” the adviser said.

The governor did not give any statement to cut the mark-up but said that due to substantial inflow of funds the liquidity of banks had improved considerably which would bring down mark-up automatically in the near future.

Dr Baig asked the governor to take up the matter with Secretary Finance, Islamabad, regarding payment of R&D claims on shipments made up to June 30, 2008 and three per cent interest disbursement to the spinning sector by the SBP and the finance ministry had assured it would send instructions for payment on both accounts within three to four days.

Talking to The News, he said that the prime minister wanted to bail out the textile industry and said that the problems of the industry would be taken on priority basis.

 

[Neo]

Industrialists seek infrastructure ​

Thursday, January 22, 2009

KARACHI: Industrialists from different parts of the country have welcomed Punjab government’s plan to establish an industrial estate on the motorway in Faisalabad.

However, they demand the government to provide basic infrastructure to the present industrial estates as well.

The Punjab government recently launched the first industrial project on a motorway at Sahianwala Interchange M3 Faisalabad, and claimed it is the largest industrial estate of the country. It is a project of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC).

SITE Association of Industry (SAI), Karachi, Chairman, Engg M A Jabbar, commented on the Faisalabad industrial estate, “we take this decision positively for the industry, as this would help increase competition between provincial governments for industrialisation,” adding that industrialisation always creates employment.

“Though Punjab is a little late in launching industrial projects like Sunder and others, it is commendable that it is pursuing industrialisation and setting an example for other provincial governments. It is also a learning opportunity for the Sindh government,” he said.

It is beyond any doubt that the industry in Pakistan is in severe crisis and is desperately waiting for the government to take immediate steps, he added.

At the same time, some industrialists have different views on the Faisalabad Industrial Estate. All Pakistan Textile Association (APTA) Chairman, Adil Mehmood, said that there were plenty of industrial estates in the country and “it is better to improve them first instead of making new industrial zones.”

He was of the view that new industrial zones require a healthy amount for infrastructure which should be used on the present industrial zones that needed infrastructural development “so that we increase our industrial output immediately.”

Another industrialist said, “Our industrial production is badly shattered by the present energy crisis and industries are closing down throughout the country, for which the government has to do something immediately before it is too late.”

Haji Muhammad Asaf, Ex-President, Sharhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry told The News from Peshawar that Faisalabad Industrial Estate is good news for the business community of the country. “We welcome this because this would help the economy of Pakistan grow, and we want to see a progressive Pakistan,” he said.

As a matter of fact, he said, industrialists are moving from NWFP to Punjab because of better prospects. Overall the industry in Pakistan is in problems, but the nature and intensity of problems are different. For instance, the biggest hurdle for businesses in NWFP unlike Punjab is not the power crisis, but the law and order situation.

In Karachi the situation is similar to Peshawar, which is deteriorating law and order. The problem we see is that new investment is not coming in this part of the country, surely an alarming picture for the government.

Fortunately, the present Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif is himself a businessman and he knows the importance of an industry for a strong economy, he observed.

Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Karachi, Chairman, Mian Zahid Hussain, said that industry in the country is badly hit by the energy crisis.

He said that in the first six months of the current fiscal year, our export and revenue targets have been met, but it seems difficult in the second half because of a variety of reasons including power shortage, high mark-up rates and cost of production and deteriorating law and order.

 

[Neo]

Govt to conduct door to door survey to identify poor ​

Thursday, January 22, 2009

ISLAMABAD: In order to remove objections raised by the IMF and World Bank, the government has approved the launch of a ‘Poverty Score Card’ pilot survey in poorest 25 districts of the country from next month for identifying deserving people to get Rs1,000 instalment under the Benazir Income Support Programme, it is learnt.

For the first time in the country’s history, the government is going to launch such a survey for identifying the poor by going door to door. Earlier, the previous governments had done sample surveys only to get an idea about people living below the poverty line.

Under the approved Poverty Score Card survey, various kinds of questions would be asked such as qualification, assets, employment, having passports or identity cards, children’s education, etc and no one would be able to assess himself or herself whether he or she would qualify for the BISP or not.

“This is a scientific method to identify poor,” said the sources ad added that the BISP would bear the cost of that exercise all over the country.

This pilot survey will be rolled out throughout Pakistan which will enable the government to select 3.4 million households living below the poverty line. The roll out exercise will be done probably by the next financial year in consultation with the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) and it will cover over 6,000 union councils of the country.

The targeted household number will be jacked up to 6 to 7 million household from the next financial year, added the sources.

The WB, the sources said, has asked Pakistan to come up with transparent targeted group for providing assistance under the BISP. There were some concerns expressed by the donors when the government decided to involve MNAs into the BISP as they objected on getting any political mileage out of this program which should be meant to help out real poor.

When Chairperson of the BISP, Farzana Raja was contacted by this scribe to get her comments, she confirmed that that the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has formally approved the pilot project for launching Poverty Score Card survey by the next months in poorest 15 to 25 districts of the country, having representation of all four provinces as well as AJK and Northern Areas.

“This is internationally recognized way to select the targeted poorest of the poor segments of the society for which the donors such as WB, UK based DFID and local stakeholders PPAF, NRSP are fully providing their expertise to complete this gigantic task,” she added.

She concluded that when the BISP was launched the most difficult thing before us was identification of poor and this survey would help to get accurate data about poor, which would be done first time in history of Pakistan.

 

[Neo]

Korean investors interested in power sector​

ISLAMABAD: A consortium of Korean Investors comprising major power generation companies namely Bin Daen, kepco, doosan, pedco and deloitte called on Prime Minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at his chamber at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

Welcoming the Korean delegation the Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s coal deposits exceeds 180 billion tonnes and the government is taking concrete steps to exploit them at fast pace in order to meet the growing energy needs of the country. He said that the government of Pakistan is laying great emphasis on the speedy development of power sector and offers lucrative incentives to foreign investors through one-window operations. He especially referred to the 1994 Private Sector Policy and said that more than half of the current IPPs are the result of that policy, which was formulated during the second tenure of the People’s Party Government.

The delegation expressed keen interest to invest in coal mining and coal based power generation in Sonda Jherrak and Thar coal field in Pakistan.

The Korean delegation informed the Prime Minister that they are deeply interested in setting up 1000MW power plant each at Sonda and Thar. They also apprised that they would make this investment based on 100 percent equity with no borrowing from banks or financial institutions.

The Prime Minister thanked the delegation for showing keen interest in making investment in Pakistan’s power sector and assured them of the government’s full support and assistance in this regard.

The Korean delegation intends to meet the Chief Minister Sindh in the coming days.

 

[Neo]

World Bank to provide $2.1bn by FY09 end ​

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank and government of Pakistan are jointly working to finalise commitment of the World Bank for development projects in the country amounting $2.107 billion by the end of the current financial year.

This includes an amount of $800 million in the shape of budgetary support to be provided for three programmes—Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC), Higher Education Support Programme (HESP) and Social Protection/ Safety Net Development Policy Credit. An amount of $1.307 billion is proposed to be committed for different projects for education, safety nets, governance, health and National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme.

World Bank’s missions on PRSC and Social Protection are currently visiting Pakistan and were holding discussions with different ministries and departments of the Government of Pakistan for the preparation of these programmes. Another mission of the bank on the HESP would visit Pakistan in the next week to discuss the modalities of the programme. The funding for all these support programmes is scheduled for disbursement in the last quarter of the current financial year.

The Bank and the Government of Pakistan would also be finalising the country assistance strategy for the next three years for carrying out development programmes and projects in the country. The proposed projects of National Expressways and National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme would be funded by the bank once the preparation formalities are carried out in different ministries and departments of the government. Both the programmes are part of the overall National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme in which the ADB has committed assistance of $900 million.

The National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme is a comprehensive initiative of the Government of Pakistan to reduce the cost of trade by improving National Transport Logistics and Services. The programme envisages improvements in various sectors like highways, railways, customs trucking and road freight industry. The Bank would be providing $25 million to the government of Pakistan during the current financial year, as technical assistance for the implementation of National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme once the process of the project formulation was completed within the Bank. The impression in the media that the National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme and the National Expressways projects are on hold or blocked by the Bank is not based on complete information.

 

[Neo]

Performance during July-November 08: Industrial growth paints worrying picture, declines by 5.57 percent​

KARACHI: The industrial growth remained gloomy during the first five months of current fiscal year as it declined 5.57 percent over the corresponding period of previous year.

During the month of November of current fiscal, it fell by 7.53 percent over the same period of previous year, Federal Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.

The falling industrial output has been caused by a host of factors. Most obvious ones are frequent power outages, deteriorating law and order situation, depreciation of rupee against the dollar and high interest rates during the period under review.

The global financial meltdown also left its scars on the local industrial sector to some extent, as the export sector is the worst hit by the slackening demand in the western countries. Production in the seven sub-sectors, which include auto, textile, and metal industries, contributing 72.4 percent of weight to the LSM, remained under pressure.

The LSM sector had shown robust growth during the last four financial years (FY04-08), when it grew by an annual average of 12 percent. However, growth in 2007-08 tapered off significantly, dropping by 380 basis points YoY to settle at 4.8 percent. Structural issues like energy shortage, poor performance of agri sector particularly the cotton crop (9.3 percent YoY drop in production to 11.7 million bales) hit the textile sector's performance. Overall slackening of demand on both the export front and domestic consumption amid global slowdown and high inflation contributed significantly to the decline in industrial growth.

Analysts said that industrial growth would remain subdued in the short-term due to high interest rates, slowdown in domestic as well as export growth, political haziness on both the international and domestic front, and structural issues especially due to the ongoing power crisis.

However, with decline in the interest rates LSM growth may regain momentum, they believed.

In petroleum sector, production of Jet fuel oil declined by 12.59 percent, kerosene oil 5.67 percent, diesel oil 29.09 percent, LPG 18.36 percent, High-speed diesel 1.71 percent, furnace oil 10.32 percent, lubricating oil 8.64 percent while motor spirits production remained flat during the first five month of current fiscal.

In the food sector, vegetable ghee production declined by 13.83 percent, cooking oil 4.05 percent, wheat and grain milling 11.19 percent, beverage 7.73 percent, tea blended and starch & its products rose by 6.49 and 17.08 percent, respectively. Among the electrical items, refrigerators recorded a negative growth of 0.23 percent, deep freezers 26.02 percent, electric bulb 22.91 percent, electric tubes 16.68 percent, electric motors 24.00 percent, electric meters 17.93 percent and transformers 0.14 percent.

Production of air-conditioners went down by 10.52 percent, electric fans 2.63 percent, switch-gears 3.59 percent, TV sets 30.53 percent and bicycles 12.25 percent. Production of paper and board also dropped by 2.70 whereas production of cement remained flat. The production of coke (Pakistan Steel) increased 48.23 percent. Production of jeep and cars were down by 44.37 percent, motorcycles 13.74 percent, and trucks 11.62 percent during July-November of this fiscal.

 

[Neo]

Marble exports rise to $17.6m in Jul-Nov 2008​

* Great potential to achieve exports worth $1 billion in 5 years​

KARACHI: The exports of marble sector registered an increase of $8 million during July-November 2008, All Pakistan Marble Mining Processing Industry and Exporters Association (APMMPIEA) said Wednesday.

The exports touched $17.6 million during July-November 2008 as compared with $9.6 million during the same period last year.

Former chairman APMMPIEA, Sanaullah Khan said the export target for 2008-09 has been fixed at $35 million and under such a situation the need of Marble City was imminent.

He said during a meeting with Sindh Minister for Commerce and Industry, Rauf Siddiqui, the minister assured him of an early resolution of the issue and start of Marble City project on war footing basis.

He said after setting up of Marble City, the marble exports would enhance to $2.5 billion in the next 10 years.

Under vision 2016, in Marble City the number of industrial units would be increased up to 5,000, he added.

Pakistan has a great chance of marble export as Saudi Arabia is also one of the top 10 globally competitive investment destinations and has initiated the development of major new cities in the Kingdom.

He said around $260 billion is the total estimate of the new cities project in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to start by the year-end and they are interested in Pakistan’s fine marble.

He said the government has approved Karachi Marble City’s proposal submitted by APMMPIEA and around 350 acres of land on Northern Bypass has already been allocated for this project.

Khan said federal government has already sanctioned funds for the development of Marble City, but due to delay on one pretext to another, the project has been in the doldrums.

He said the ‘PC-1’ of this project has already been approved in June 2007.

To compete with world marble industry, he said the stakeholders demanded of the government to facilitate the marble and granite sector. Such facilities would also help the government in achieving full benefits from the available potential of the marble and granite sector.

Pakistani marble is of excellent quality and its products could compete with any other county’s products.

He said the global trade in marble and granite was estimated at $43 billion a year while Pakistan remained a marginal market player and with improvement in its infrastructure and technology, this sector had the potential to play a far more important role in increasing exports.

He said there was no problem of quantity but Pakistan was facing problems of quality and value addition as the country has poor infrastructure and no modern machinery and technology to cater the demand.

He said frequent load shedding and power outages were proving the biggest hurdle in the smooth performance of marble industry and emphasised that government should provide a favourable load shedding schedule to marble industry so that they could adjust their production without facing much problems.

He said Saudi Arabia is to build world’s tallest building at around 1,000 metres, new town planned for Jeddah, Emaar in venture to develop $7 billion Saudi project, besides $120 million for Saudi port improvement and start date set for new $40 billion Saudi city.

More than 285 civil construction projects worth in excess of $260 billion are currently underway or in design in Saudi Arabia, the sleeping giant of the Arabian Gulf real estate market, according to the latest analysis.

 

[Neo]

UAE agrees to initiate Khalifa Point refinery project ​

ISLAMABAD (January 22 2009): The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has agreed to initiate $5 billion Khalifa Point oil refinery project in Balochistan. This positive note to initiate the project from the UAE government came during dialogue on Monday in UAE between UAE government officials and a delegation led by Advisor to Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain.

The Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had announced on January 10 that it had delayed plans to set up the refinery in Pakistan and was reviewing its Fujairah refinery project. He told newsmen that its board had approved last year plans to build a 4 5 billion refinery in Pakistan with refining capacity of 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

Dr Asim told Business Recorder that IPIC had agreed, in principle, to initiate the project, and its board of directors would hold a meeting next month. The issue of establishing Khalifa Point oil refinery would be tabled before the board. He said that a delegation would again visit UAE after the meeting of board of directors next month.

 

[Al-zakir]

Pakistan’s first parking plaza to go operational in one month: Nazim

This news caught me off guard and little surprise by this but congratulation to Nazim and people of pakistan.

Updated at: 2109 PST, Thursday, January 22, 2009
KARACHI: The country's first parking plaza in Saddar here would start operation within a month's time.

This was announced in a statement of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) here on Thursday.

It further stated that the CDGK has completed the arrangements for the parking.

The seven storey facility has been constructed at a cost of Rs.700 million. It has a capacity of 800 cars and 300 motorcycles.

The Nazim of Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kamal, visited the parking plaza on Thursday and said that this is the first parking plaza in the country.

Apart from parking this plaza has offices as well as the shopping centre.

The Nazim Karachi said that scanning machines and latest cameras have been installed at the parking plaza for monitoring.

Pakistan’s first parking plaza to go operational in one month: Nazim - GEO.tv