ADB is planning loan $ 6 million for Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System.  $150,000 will be given for feasibility study. This would be the beginning of a long  effort for developing transport facilities in Lahore.
TA loan supports recruitment of Advisor to help formulate, structure, and take to the market a public-private partnership  for the first  line of the proposed rapid mass transit in Lahore.
Two PSP specialists will  form a team to keep an eye on implementation of the T...
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1 crore to be gifted free

Water and Power Development Authority will soon be distributing 10 million (a crore) energy savers to its consumers free of cost, to facilitate conserving power. Strangely, no one in WAPDA seems to know that 'energy saver' is merely a misnomer. They save little energy, say many electrical engineers.
The caretaker government had directed WAPDA to focus on federal, provincial offices and charitable hospitals as the first priority. Other customers too will b...
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It's all about mindset - more volumes or?

It was November 25, 2006 and the venue was Islamabad. Pakistan and China were signing Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Heads of both states were warmly shaking hands in front of media. The aim was to triple the trade between the two countries in five years to $ 15 billion.
The target has already been achieved. However, it has practically been a one way street.
Sales of Chinese products in Pakistan have already gone past the line, wh...
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Our bodies are power houses

Making calls from a cell phone without a battery, using just the warmth of your hand? That's no more a pipe dream. New circuits being developed in Germ-any are  making it possible to harness body heat for generating electricity.
Numerous medical equipments are attached to a patient's body in intensive care wards. They monitor  heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, pulse and breathing rates. This needs quite a jumble of cables, as all these devices nee...
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PEPCO notices not taken seriously

Very few could believe that Pakistan's largest city and economic hub would be plunged into darkness on March 6 in a fashion not known in Pakistan till then. Notwithstanding the fact that Pakistanis have become used to load shedding, often undeclared, this time the cause and effect were unprecedented.
KESC insiders say the company, now under private control, had been receiving PEPCO letters and notices for paying outstanding bills. But KESC did not...
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Not us, they are backing out

Islamabad seems to be having second thoughts on Munda Dam over River Swat. Originally planned to be built as a private sector venture, it has lately been 'given' to WAPDA which is currently short of funds and cannot easily find a partner under the public-private partnership - 3Ps arrangements.
Reasons for the change are pretty well known but cannot be reported in a paper because of the high price that one might have to bear.
But the fact is that ...
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shut at 7 pm

Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) has been directed to reduce its line losses, enhance recovery of bills and undertake conservation campaigns. The directions have come from the 'big boss', head of PEPCO, the mother company of all power utilities created out of WAPDA's Power Wing.
But when it comes to 'conserving power', the directives seem to be nearly impossible to implement because these things have not begun to happen anywhere else in the country. PESCO ha...
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Severe water shortage in SITE

Karachi's SITE industrial area gets less than half of its  promised quota. It was promised 14 million gallons daily (MGD) including 6 MGD from K-3 project and 8 MGD from previously allocated quota.
Presently SITE, the country's oldest and the largest industrial area, needs about 30 MGD but gets only 6-7 MGD which is not even 25 % of its needs.
According to one source, it was announced that city's industrial areas will get 22 MGD from K-3's capacit...
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