The Board of Directors of Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) on Monday appointed Faheem Haider as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.

“We would like to inform that the Board in its meeting held today has approved the appointment of Faheem Haider as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mari Petroleum Company Limited with effect from August 12, 2020,” MPCL announced the decision in its filing to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Whereas, Lt. Gen. Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad (Retd) was performing the duty of CEO of MPCL before Faheem Haider.

Faheem Haider is a Petroleum Engineer and also capable to handle core E&P operations in different parts of the world with the experience of more than 27 years. He has also the experience of JV management, business development, strategy and growth delivery, operational efficiency, cost leadership, and stakeholders’ management.

Faheem Haider has got a Post-Graduate Diploma from the College of Petroleum Studies, Oxford UK, an MSc. Degree in Petroleum Engineering & Production Management from Imperial College London, and BSc. Degree in Petroleum Engineering from UET Lahore.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) gave the approval to improve the vital Mainline-1 railway track. The committee estimated the cost of the project which is around Rs1.137 trillion.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the advice of the Prime Minister of finance and revenue, took the decision while presiding the meeting of the committee on Wednesday.

The committee also gave its approval to three other development projects, with a total estimated cost of Rs114 billion.

Whereas Ecnec also working on the project on the establishment of a dry port near Havelian which cost is estimated $6.807bn on cost-sharing basis between the governments of China and Pakistan, in which Chinese bank will provide 90pc of the cost of the project. And the remaining amount will be borne by the federal government. The 59pc amount of the project, i.e. Rs672bn will be spent on local material, equipment and labour costs while machinery and equipment worth is $2.7bn.

The project is divided into three phases. So as to maintain a strategic distance from responsibility charges, the credit sum for each bundle will be independently contracted.

Under this general undertaking, the current 2,655km track will be updated, said an official statement. The speed of passenger trains will increase from 65-110 kilometres for every hour to 165km every hour and line limit will increment from 34 to 137/171 trains each way per day.

A restructuring plan for Pakistan Railways has additionally been affirmed by the prime minister.

In June this year, the Central Development Working Party had suggested the project cost at $7.2bn and referred it to Ecnec for endorsement. But, the Planning Commission said on Tuesday the estimated cost referred to Ecnec for endorsement was $6.8bn. This is because of termination of the line at Peshawar instead of the earlier proposal of extending it to Torkham. The Karachi-Hyderabad section will be built on commercial lines under PPP mode. The ML-1 is a high-priority project of the government irrespective of the political divide.

The project stayed under discussion in light of its enormous budgetary effect, the US opposition to Chinese interests in Pakistan and limitations of the government under the debt sustainability perspective of the IMF.

Prime Minsiter Imran took a decision to set up e-Khidmat Centers and a web portal to facilitate the builders in a meeting of the National Coordination Commit­tee on Housing, Construction and Development (NCCHCD) on Thursday. The step was taken to encourage the builders and developers and also to create a friendly environment for the to start project in the construction sector.

Prime Minister was assured by some of the renown builders that there would be the start of new projects which will trigger the economic activity of more than a trillion rupees in all over country till the end of the running year.

In meeting Prime Minister also examined the feature of the web portal established by the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to provide an online platform for no-objection certificates (NOCs) and official permission needed to start development activities.

Prime Minister is hopeful that the web portal will offer the digital solutions to the builders, minimising human interferences and ensuring expeditious processing of applications within the stipulated timeline.

The Ministry of Commerce has asked Tariff Policy Center to work out tariff justification guide for lessening the weight of excessive protection accessible to a couple of areas to give the advantage to end consumers.

A high-level meeting led by Commerce Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood has requested that the TPC set up a three-year plan for chosen areas — iron and steel, plastics, building, pharmaceuticals, synthetic compounds and material.

An official declaration issued here said the adviserdirected TPC of National Tariff Commission to conductdetailed studies and propose a three-year guide for these areas. To define the tax plan, the NTC will initially recognize the total worth chains alongside possible partners, at that point gather information from the essential and auxiliary sources and affirm them from chambers and relationship just as direct formal reviews.

The proposed three-year plan will at that point be submitted to Tariff Policy Board for endorsement and consideration in the yearly annual budget. Dawood said that tariff rationalization is crucial for export-ledindustrialization in Pakistan and conversations should begin with the significant partners from one month from now to build up the guide in such manner. The TPB has executed a decrease of obligations on around 2,000 tax lines, comprising basic raw materials and intermediate goods.

Worldwide port administrator DP World recorded a fall of 8.8 percent in second quarter container volumes, warning on Monday as the uncertainty is still prevailing. Whereas, the credit is given to the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has shut down the urban communities and production lines worldwide for a considerable length of time, disrupting shipments and worldwide supply chains, while a few urban areas are currently reintroducing checks after a rise in infections.

The Dubai state-organization, which also operates logistic facilities, took care of 16.7 million shipping containers in the second quarter, down from 18.3m every year earlier.

It recorded its greatest quarterly decrease in the Asia Pacific and Indian subcontinent region, where volumes fell 12.2pc to 7.2m containers.

“Generally speaking, we are delighted that our business has performed superior to expected and, while the standpoint is as yet questionable, we stay positive on the medium-to long term fundamentals of the industry,” Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in a statement.