Power sector problems in Pakistan are acute, chronic, and have accumulated over decades. They are also multi-dimensional and not restricted to any one aspect of the sector. They all, however, have culminated into feeding the monster, “the higher-than-normal electricity prices”. There is no easy way out of the present quagmire. A carefully-crafted reform program will be needed to plug the…
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ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to auction unutilized capacity of LNG Regasification Terminals not under government’s use on a short-term basis, Business Recorder reported on Wednesday. Currently two LNG Regasification Terminals are operational, one each under Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and Pakistan LNG Terminals Limited (PLTL). While SSGCL terminal is operating near capacity, the PLTL terminal is under-utilized with…
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ISLAMABAD: The government has initiated working on its plan to create Azad Jammu and Kashmir electricity distribution company (AJK Disco). However, the analogy of the AJK Disco will be as a bulk consumer that will purchase the electricity from three Discos of the country such as Iesco, Pesco and Gepco. AJK DISCO will go into the jurisdiction of Nepra and…
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ISLAMABAD: Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and government’s team are said to have completed four rounds of talks but “crucial things” are yet to be tabled and agreed between the parties, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. The newly-constituted committee representing the government is headed by Chairman Federal Land Commission Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad and comprises an officer of Power Division not below…
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ISLAMABAD: The World Bank, in its first comprehensive stock-taking of infrastructure services in Asia, says although electricity access in Pakistan is in line with regional averages of 92.5 per cent, the average interruption duration and frequency values are much higher. This is apparent from frequent power outages due to loadshedding. Pakistan suffers from outdated facilities and a complex distribution system…
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Let’s get the bad news out of the way. You know when people casually joke about our country being a burning dumpster fire? They’re not totally wrong. America has a huge waste problem, and municipalities are now burning recyclables. Why? Because in 2017, China, which used to buy most of America’s discarded recycling, decided it was tired of being the…
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani olive oil producers are preparing to enter the global market as 27.5 million olive trees on more than 30,000 acres of land have been planted. The plantation extends through Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Islamabad and Azad Kashmir, said a report published by Gwadar Pro on Wednesday. Pakistan has 10 million-acre suitable land for olive plantation, almost double than Spain,…
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The world’s first ‘shaft hydropower plant’, with the turbine concealed in a shaft in the river bed, is now operating in Germany. This plant was built on the Loisach River in a Bavarian nature reserve. The new plant concept was developed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and scientists say it allows fish to pass freely over the power…
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Most of the inhabitants of the Thar desert can grow crops only after a downpour has transformed the arid land into lush greenery. But Allahrakhio Khoso, a 60-year-old farmer, does not need to wait for rain. In the city of Nagarparkar, in the shadow of the Karoonjhar mountains, Khoso has made an orchard in the desert a reality by using matkas or…
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ISLAMABAD: As the power sector is plagued with poor governance on account of electricity theft and rampant corruption, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) has given directives for expediting reforms in the sector to make it stable and sustainable. In its meeting on Thursday, the cabinet body on energy, in addition to reviewing the implementation status of decisions taken, also…
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