The Londoner

Some 1,036 million dollars would be invested in Gwadar till 2018 on different projects related to improving basic road infrastructure and power projects on the basis of grant and interest-free loans. Talking to The News, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the projects to be completed in Gwadar included Gwadar Coal Power Project (360 million dollars), new Gwadar Airport (260 million dollars), construction of breakwaters (130 million dollars), water treatment plant (114 million dollars), state-of-the-art hospital (100 million dollars), Free Economic Zones (35 million dollars), dredging of channels (27 million dollars) and technical and vocational institute (10 million dollars). He said all the projects in Gwadar would be completed on the basis of loans that have been converted into grants and interest-free loans so the cost of the overall basket can be reduced to a considerable level. The minister said the bidding process for the China-Pakistan Economic Cor...

In a landmark ceremony, Pakistani authorities will formally hand over 2,281 acres of Gwadar Port’s free trade zone to the Chinese Oversees Ports Holding Company Ltd (COPHCL) on November 11 on a 43-year lease. The ceremony would be held in Gwadar on Wednesday and would be attended by the Chinese delegation headed by National Development and Reform Commission Vice Chairman Wang Xiaodao, who has already arrived in Pakistan. The Chinese delegation comprises of all top level officials of the Chinese government and leaders of private companies. The Pakistani delegation would be led by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal. A senior official of the ministry said that the event would also be attended by Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik and Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michal. The government has already declared Gwadar Port a free trade zone for the next 23 years. The officer said that in this regard, a high-level meeting of both aut...

According to a study of a financial think-tank from Switzerland , there are 415 people in Pakistan , who own more than $30 million each as compared to 310 last year, registering an increase of 33.9 percent, which is a record in Asia . Collective income of these people remained around $50 billion, the study revealed. Only seven to eight business groups of the 22 families continue to operate their businesses significantly and the remaining families have either closed their businesses or have shifted abroad. Dr Ishrat Husain , former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and a renowned economist, said only Dawoods, Adamjees, Sehgals, Shaikhs, Nishats and a few others have survived the economic ups and downs during this period, while Haroons, Batlas, Valikas, Isfahanis, Noons, and Rangoonwalas, have disappeared from the economic scene. The nationalisation process in 70s also affected their economic position, he said, adding that some of the families went abroad and ...

QUETTA: Balochistan government is planning to purchase 1,000 megawatts (MW) electricity from Iran to overcome the power shortage in Balochistan besides ensuring uninterrupted power supply to tube-wells in agriculture sector of the province. Talking to the visiting under-training officers at Civil Service Academy Lahore here on Monday, Balochistan Chief Secretary Ahmed Baksh Lehri said work on solar energy project is also in progress, which on completion would generate additional power for the province. He said Gwadar deep-water port is also being made operational besides organising the mines and mineral sector of the province on modern lines. Referring to irrigation sector schemes, he said work on Kachi canal, small and medium dams projects is also in progress which on completion would bring over one million acres of barren land under cultivation across the province.  Read the full story here. 

MUZAFFARABAD:  From mosques, to homes and streets, Pakistanis are increasingly seeing the light and realising that year-round sun may be a cheap if partial answer to an enormous energy crisis. “It’s the best thing I bought this winter,” says Sardar Azam, a former civil servant retired to a river-side home in Kashmir, showing off his water-heating solar geyser installed on the terrace. “The biggest advantage is that you spend money once and it runs on sunlight which is free,” Azam added. The country needs to produce 16,000 megawatts of electricity a day but only manages 13,000 megawatts, according to the Pakistan Electric Power Company. The shortfall means that millions endure electricity cuts for up to 16 hours a day, leaving them freezing in winter and sweltering in summer while hitting industry hard, exacerbating a slow-burn recession. Read the full story here. 

Firdous Ashiq Awan reiterated that the project provides the sole window of opportunity for his country to solve its energy shortage.  The pipeline project to transfer Iran's gas to Pakistan is essential to resolve Islamabad's energy crisis and it will play a leading role in developing industries and creating jobs for generations to come, Awan said on Monday.  She added that Pakistan would make utmost efforts to implement the vital project and resist against any foreign pressure regarding the issue.  The minister emphasized that Islamabad has expressed its full support for the implementation of the IP project.  The 2700-kilometer long pipeline was to supply gas for Pakistan and India which are suffering a lack of energy sources, but India has evaded talks. Last year Iran and Pakistan declared they would finalize the agreement bilaterally if India continued to be absent in the meetings.  Read the full story here. 

LAHORE - Pakistan Railways (PR) is going to privatize four rail cars between Lahore and Rawalpindi including 101 Up Subakraftar, 102 Down Subakraftar, 103 Up Subakhuram and 104 Down Subakkhuram. A senior officer of railways said that the department had made a set of four trains and also had invited interested parties for biddings in this regard. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Railways has already privatized two trains including Business Express and Shalimar Express within last four months. Operation of Shalimar Express was closed due to unknown reasons and was restored and privatized. The unions of Railways Employees opposed the privatization and said that the decision was made just to oblige a few. Read the full story here. 

Be it a natural catastrophe, man-made brutality, an economic nose-dive or fatal epidemics; Pakistan has been falling prey to the contamination of time, trauma and transition.  Just when we thought we had started rehabilitating after the disastrous floods of 2010, another torrent for  Sindh  (a province in southern Pakistan ) was waiting around the corner. In spite of its magnitude, it did not frighten us as much as the one before this did. One may comprehend that we as a nation have come out of the past devastation so strong that no such calamity can hold us back. As a matter of fact, the rationale is slightly different this time around. Without tagging our attitudes with the expressions like 'heartless' or 'inhumane', one needs to underscore other angles to this dilemma. The fact that hardships do not scare us any longer is itself quite frightening. Now the question arises 'what is keeping us so preoccupied' that we have started refraining from contemplat...

By Sikander Hayat Why is everyone so hell bent on removing a democratically elected president by any means possible. Is it not the job of the people of Pakistan to give their verdict on the performance of this president. Zardari has made mistakes but has spent eleven years in jail and nothing has been proved against him yet. Please give democracy a chance so that people from Sindh , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan can keep their trust in the federation. PML (N) is asking for Zardari's resignation on moral grounds but what about houses in Park Lane London and businesses in Spain. Now Nawaz Sharif is trying to pretend that he is the cleanest person in Pakistan. They are all corrupt but it is only the job of the people to tell who should be running the country. I am not a fan of Zardari , I know that he is president because all notable Bhutto’ s are dead but I cannot second guess the choice of Pakistani people. Army, if it is putting pressure on Zardari to resign, mu...

By Sikander Hayat This was going to happen sooner or later. With no clear direction, with all the people kept in dark, Pakistan was bound to face this indignation . Well done PPP , well done Army and well done to the impotent/corrupt/incapable politicians. You have succeeded in doing what nobody else could. You have turned Pakistan into a Greek tragedy . Jang Group Online

By Sikander Hayat It is true that Musharaf was the first person to really take a keen interest in the development of Gwadar and he was probably taking personal interest in the city of Gwadar to make it an industrial and tourist destination. Musharaf was an army man but not all of his ideas were bad. It can be argued that Gwadar in general and Baluchistan in particular have been neglected under democratic governments and it took an army man in the form of Pervaiz Musharaf to kick start the development projects in Baluchistan. Gwadar was the poster child of this development idea. Building the coastal highway to join Gwadar with Karachi was a master stroke and starting the port construction was another major step towards the right direction. Where he went wrong was the lack of consultation with the local stakeholders and tried to force feed development to Gwadar people. Locals thought of the project as a colonisation attempt by the federal government and balked at the idea of increase in...

By Sikander Hayat 7th National Finance Commission Award has been signed into agreement today in the port city of Gwadar, Baluchistan. Punjab and Federal Government have given up some of their share to meet the needs of Baluchistan and NWFP. This is a historic occasion for Pakistan because it is first time that all federating units have reached consensus without any major disagreements. A new formula has been devised to distribute resources among the centre and the federating units. Under the award population will be given 82 per cent weightage, poverty 10.3 per cent, revenue collection five per cent (2.5 per cent revenue generation, 2.5 per cent revenue collection) and area 2.7 per cent. Under the new NFC Award, the federation met the demand of the provincial governments for a greater share in national resources. The provincial share of the divisible pool would increase from 47.5 per cent to 56 per cent in the first year of NFC and 57.5 per cent in the remaining years of the Award. Un...

By Sikander Hayat Gwadar cannot prosper until it is properly connected to the world. There has been a good news in that respect that Gwadar will be provided money by the federal government to build a new airport in the city . According to Daily Dawn, the government has decided to provide Rs6.18 billion for construction of an international airport in Gwadar. The total cost of the project is Rs7.5 billion. The government of Oman will provide a grant of $17.5 million. A senior member of the Planning Commission said the decision had been taken under the government’s Balochistan development policy. The CAA has acquired 4,300 acres. It estimates that the airport will be operational by 2020 and it will be able to handle large passenger and cargo aircraft. The second phase of the airport is scheduled to be completed by 2030 and the final phase by 2050 when it will have the capacity to handle more than one million passengers and 50,000 tons of cargo a year. The existing airport built...

By Sikander Hayat What is the most pressing problem of Pakistan at the moment, terrorism you might say but I believe that there is an even bigger issue which is the underlying cause for terrorism as well. It is that of economy. It is rarely the case that chattering classes in Pakistan and the people who roam the corridors of power give economy a priority in their decision making. They are more concerned with trivialities of daily politics and the petty issues that have hampered Pakistan’s progress as a nation in last 60 years. As a people, Pakistanis like good gossip and that need is amply fulfilled by the politics. To them economy is boring and although it is the biggest problem Pakistan is facing right now, it is somewhere near the bottom on the list of priorities. After elections brought a civilian government back to power, Pakistan is reeling. It's not just the attacks by militants. The economy, which had been growing steadily, has been hit hard by spiking fuel and food costs. ...

The United Kingdom has decided to relocate its visa office from the United Arab Emirates to Pakistan to address the issue of delays in the issuing of visas, British Home Affairs Secretary Alan Johnson said on Tuesday. He was talking to reporters with Interior Minister Rehman Malik after they held detailed talks on various issues, including the delay in visa issuance, illegal immigration, terrorism and extremism. “The visa section was transferred to UAE as the IT system in Pakistan was not updated, but we are working on it and by the next month (November), the visa section would start operating from here,” Johnson said. He also announced that the UK had decided to reduce the time period for issuing visas from 60 days to between 15 and 20 days. Earlier, Johnson and Malik agreed to increase cooperation in the war on terror, as both countries faced a common threat. The two also discussed the issue of Pakistani students who had been arrested by British authorities on charges of planning a t...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As the Obama administration weighs a shift in its military strategy in Afghanistan, it is also stepping up its efforts to increase aid to neighboring Pakistan. The Senate on Sept. 24 approved legislation to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years. However, conditions laid out in the bill, authored by Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, have unleashed street protests and a flood of criticism from Pakistanis who say the bill compromises their country’s sovereignty. President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan has agreed to the stipulations in the Kerry-Lugar bill, but he is coming under sharp criticism from opposition parties and many Pakistanis who view America as a cavalier and condescending ally. Pakistan’s Parliament is discussing the Kerry-Lugar aid bill Wednesday, and it is expected to be a fiery debate. I spoke with several Pakistanis who shared their concerns abo...

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced here on Wednesday that he planned to visit Pakistan this year at the head of a delegation of businessmen and entrepreneurs to explore possibilities of investment in key areas of economy, APP reported. Mr Berlusconi made the announcement after a one-to-one meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari at which the latter urged the Italian prime minister to help Pakistan with investment and transfer of technology. Briefing newsmen after the meeting, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that six areas had been identified for investments by Italian businessmen. These are energy, marble quarrying and dressing, gemstone, leather value-addition and agriculture. The president said at the meeting that Pakistan was at the centre of a huge market of nearly two billion people in parts of China, India and the entire Central Asia. Mr Berlusconi said that Italy was aware of the strategic importance of Pakistan and was ready to help the count...

By Khalid Qayum and Khaleeq Ahmed Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan awarded licenses for 41 blocks to companies including BP Plc., Eni SpA and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. to search for oil and gas in the south Asian country, in a bid to attract investment in the energy sector. “The successful bidders will be issued licenses within 15 days,” G.A. Sabri, special secretary at the Islamabad-based Petroleum Ministry said today in a phone interview. The companies bid yesterday for 41 blocks out of 53 offered by the government, he said. Pakistan Petroleum, the nation’s biggest gas producer, won 13 licenses, the most, while Oil & Gas Development Co., Pakistan’s largest explorer, will get six blocks, he said. Pakistan Oilfield Ltd., the third biggest exploration company, will get two licenses while BP and ENI will be issued two and one licenses, respectively, he said. Read the full story here .

QUETTA: Minister for Industries and Production Mian Manzoor Ahmed Watto has said that the federal government would invest over 60 per cent of the total allocations made in the Balochistan budget for the promotion of trade and industry. Speaking at a press conference after a brief visit to Quetta on Friday he said that the decision had been taken to develop industries and promote trade in the province Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, federal ministers Ayatullah Durrani, Mir Humayun Aziz Kurd and Balochistan Industry Minister Syed Ehsan Shah were also present on the occasion. Mr Watto announced that marble cities would be established in the province to encourage investment in the industrial sector and to explore the mineral resources that remained untapped so far. He said that exploration of mineral resources in the province would benefit the country in general and Balochistan in particular. He disclosed that the federal cabinet had approved and notified Gwadar as a tax free zone offe...

By Sajid Chaudhry ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Saturday notified a tax exemption on profits and gains of any industrial unit in the Gwadar Export Processing Zone (EPZ) for a period of 10 years. The exemption will commence from the time the industrial unit is set up or begins commercial operations. The FBR also notified that industrial units established in the Gwadar EPZ would be allowed to sell 50 percent of their produce in the local market, compared to 20 percent previously. The remaining produce can be exported as per the producer’s preference. Earlier, the industrial units located in the Gwadar EPZ needed to export 80 percent of their production for availing tax exemptions and incentives. The FBR issued SRO 606(I)/2009, which amended the Second Schedule of the Income Tax Ordinance and added a new clause, 126-D, after clause 126-C. The FBR also issued a notification SRO 612 (I)/2009 that amended the Customs Rules. Read the full story here .