Sindh govt begins registration of electric vehicles

Sindh Excise Minister Mukesh Kumar on Tuesday announced that the registration of electric vehicles (EVs) and motorcycles has begun. The decision has been taken keeping in view the increasing demand of people buying electric vehicles and motorcycles while customers have been facing difficulties due to the delay in the registration process. Earlier in June, in order to implement the decision of the federal cabinet for incentivising electric vehicles, the government has notified exemption of registration fee and motor vehicle tax on two- and three-wheeler and heavy commercial vehicles and four-wheelers…

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Descon to empower approximately 10,000 individuals through overseas employment

Pakistan achieved the honour of becoming a leader in manpower export in the region, surpassing major players including India and Bangladesh in 2020. Determined to be at the forefront of this, Descon Engineering Limited is all set to provide close to 10,000 job opportunities in the GCC region for 2021. Majority of these positions will be filled from Pakistan. The target from July till December is to recruit and mobilise close to 10,000 personnel to go overseas where they will get international exposure and a chance to showcase/prove their skills…

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NEPRA imposes Rs28 million fine on SEPCO over negligence

NEPRA has imposed a fine of Rs28 million on Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) on charges of negligence resulting in fatal incidents during the period July, 2019 to November, 2020.  NEPRA upon receipt of reports of 20 deaths due to different electrocution incidents during July 2019 to November 2020, constituted a three-member investigation committee under Section 27-A of NEPRA Act 1997 to visit the relevant areas, conduct investigation and ascertain the facts and possible violations of NEPRA laws, rules and regulations. The investigation committee’s report revealed that 11 out of…

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Govt set to increase power tariff from October

The government on Tuesday appeared set to increase the electricity tariff it had put on hold in April as part of revised Circular Debt Managem­ent Plan (CDMP) and efforts to ensure continuous foreign inflows from lending agencies – particularly the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The tariff increase along with CDMP is expected to set into motion from Oct 1, but has to be discussed in detail by the Economic Coordination Comm­ittee (ECC) of the Cabinet within a few days. The tariff increases would be made…

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Gas, condensate discovered in KP

The state-run Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has announced a gas and condensate discovery in Frontier Region Lakki of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The OGDCL said in a statement that it spud-in Wali#01 well on Dec 2, 2019, as an exploratory well and drilled down to total depth of 4,727 metres (measured depth) inside Kawagarh Formation. Based on the good oil and gas shows during drilling, interpretation of open hole logs data, successful testing was carried out in Kawagarh Formation, which proved to be gas and condensate discovery. Now Drill…

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Why The UAE Gave Pakistan An Oil Concession For The First Time Ever

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is the key corporate proxy at the centre of the U.S.’s Middle East pushback against increasing Chinese and Russian influence across the region via their activities in Iran (and Iraq). The awarding of exploration, development, and ancillary contracts for its onshore and offshore oil and gas fields is a principal mechanism by which ADNOC is used to promote engagement with countries regarded as ‘in play’ by Washington. A longstanding prime example of this is Pakistan and the awarding last week of the first…

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Sindh mulls legal challenge to Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan

he Sindh government is going to mount a legal challenge to the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021. Speaking to Dawn on Tuesday, Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said the federal government has excluded the cost-effective energy projects of Sindh from the plan, which is against the least-cost principle of the IGCEP model. “The federal government has approved expensive hydel projects in the name of alternative energy while dropping Sindh-based wind and solar initiatives that will produce electricity at a cost of four to five cents a unit,” he added. Prepared…

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Families overbilled with impunity: Power companies make a mockery of NEPRA rules

Have you been shocked by the unduly large electricity bills you have been receiving recently? You are not alone. Families across the country have been forced to pay unfairly high electricity bills in the past few months as billing malpractices by Pakistani power companies have gone unchecked by the apex regulator, a new Geo News investigation has revealed. Meanwhile, despite being alerted to the issue, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), which, among other things, is tasked with protecting citizens from unlawful billing, seems to be taking a lax…

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Rate of charging electric car should be Rs47 per unit, says chairman NEPRA

Tauseef H. Farooqi, the chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), said on Wednesday that in line with the initial estimates the rate of charging an electric car should be Rs47 per unit, Daily Times reported. while winding up the meeting held to fix the charging rates, the chairman said that the Authority would like to hold more such meetings soon turning to all those who have been affected by this decision. He further said that people could send their proposals to NEPRA concerning the fixation of the…

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Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record

The Antarctic has registered a temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the first time on record, prompting fears of climate instability in the world’s greatest repository of ice. The 20.75C logged by Brazilian scientists at Seymour Island on 9 February was almost a full degree higher than the previous record of 19.8C, taken on Signy Island in January 1982. It follows another recent temperature record: on 6 February an Argentinian research station at Esperanza measured 18.3C, which was the highest reading on the continental Antarctic peninsula. These records will need to be…

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