Month: January 2020

Solid waste and smog has been on the agenda of public debate lately. On Solid Waste Management (SWM), good news has started coming in. Recently there was a public hearing at Nepra, on a tariff petition for a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Waste to Energy (WtE) project. Earlier, Nepra had awarded tariff to a similar project in Lahore. Most recently, reports have been published of KE signing an MoU for a similar project. While this is all good news, we would like to caution against some risks in planning and implementing such…

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Rural life, especially for the poor, is very difficult in terms of fuel and energy. Cheap and clean fuel is a major and urgent requirement for rural and semi-urban areas. Moreover, local gas resources are going down necessitation imports of LNG resulting in foreign exchange drain in an environment of heavy current account deficit. Biogas, a local resource, can be an important source of fuel. As a populous agricultural country with a population of more than 200 million, a vast amount of biomass is generated. Biogas potential from livestock manure…

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KARACHI: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has said though there is economic stabilisation in Pakistan the country has still not seen economic growth. He was speaking at a talk on ‘Business-Way Forward’ organised by the English Speaking Union of Pakistan at a hotel here on Saturday. “But there can be no growth without stabilisation,” he pointed out, saying that the challenge for Pakistan is to change from an import consumption country to a country with exports that go up…

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KARACHI: After Islamabad again rejected Sindh’s claim to the gas it produces, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government at the centre may face another challenge in the shape of a likely partnership between the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh and the Balochistan government over gas shortage in the two provinces. Both governments are mulling over a joint strategy over the gas crisis while toying different ideas to make their case stronger, including protest in parliament and raising the agreed points in the next meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI),…

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ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to introduce efficiency standards for all lighting products and equipment on Jan 15 as part of an aggressive energy conservation plan for all sectors of economy to reduce energy costs to consumers and be competitive in the market. The Managing Director of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA), Dr Sardar Mohazzam, told Dawn that the minimum energy standards for lighting would come into force on Jan15, for motors in February and then for refrigerators and air-conditioners within the next six months. The NEECA is a…

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