Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar has been asked to resign from his position over last year’s fuel crisis, federal minister Asad Umar announced on Friday. Addressing a press conference, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked Babar to step down from the position for a 90-day period, during which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)…
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Poor governance, incompetence, lack of transparency, distribution and transmission losses (a euphemism for theft), have made powering Pakistan a transMission Impossible. A recently released book by the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars (Wilson Center) reviews the energy crisis in Pakistan and raises the question if there is a way out of Pakistan’s endless energy crisis? A careful read of the book…
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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the second, third, fourth and fifth reviews of the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan and approved an immediate disbursement of $500 million for budget support. Following the Executive Board discussion on Pakistan on March 24, IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair Antoinette Sayeh…
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Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said tree plantation is highly important to keep an atmosphere clean and healthy. He said this while inaugurating the Miyawaki Forest at Botanical Garden Jallo here on Thursday. He said planting trees was the only way to deal with smog and environmental pollution. He congratulated the Parks and…
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Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih, representing Aljomaih Group of Saudi Arabia with major shareholdings in K-Electric, Pakistan’s only private and vertically integrated utility, held a range of high-level meetings in Islamabad and Karachi during recent visit to Pakistan, including the Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Privatization Minister Mohammedmian Soomro and Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan.…
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A close aide of the prime minister has stepped forward in the K-Electric deal that may lead to another controversy. Different quarters say that intervention by the premier’s close aide, who had previously worked on different positions in K-Electric, may derail the progress made so far in resolving the payables and receivables dispute among Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), National…
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Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Power Tabish Gauhar has suggested the privatisation of five power distribution companies in Punjab in the first phase after clearing their loans to improve the balance sheet and enable them to borrow from banks for restructuring. During discussions in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP), he commented on the draft report…
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The federal government will have strong footprints in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) even after approval of a new Act of parliament, which is contrary to the objectives of ensuring efficient and financially viable public sector firms by ending political interference. The draft of State-owned Enterprises (Governance and Management) Act 2021 suggests that the government still does not want these entities to…
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LAHORE: The construction work on 21MW Tangir Hydropower Project, meant for providing electricity to the people in various areas during construction phase of Diamer Bhasha Dam, has commenced, according to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). The construction works on eight sites of Diamer Bhasha Dam and nine of the Dasu Hydropower projects are also underway these days on…
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