Lock Down – Who will benefit from the recently-announced tax amnesty for the construction sector?

on 09/07/2020

It is hard to forget, even for a few moments, that we are living in unprecedented times. From journalists to politicians, to your uncle passing idle lock down hours by forwarding unverified ‘news’ on Whats App, there is no shortage of people reminding us of the present moment’s uncertainty. Not that we need the reminders. With Covid-19 forcefully bringing routine life to a standstill and countries around the world reeling from the economic impact of government-imposed lock downs and business closures, it is clear for anyone to see that we are experiencing history in the making.

Governments in developed countries have tried to step up, announcing various protection schemes to help businesses and people adversely affected by the crisis. But the problem is more acute in countries such as Pakistan, where governments do not have the fiscal space to launch wide-ranging social protection programs. Nonetheless, in an effort to offer some relief, the government of Pakistan has decided on incentivizing construction activity to offset the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy.

The incentive package was introduced by the President of Pakistan by promulgating the Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 on April 17, 2020. What is novel about this package is that it grants amnesty in exchange for investing money in construction, thus using the money to create employment and generate economic activity. However, one need not have undeclared wealth to benefit from the package. The fixed low rate of tax incentivizes anyone with capital to engage in construction activity.

Former US President Ronald Reagan had once quipped, “the government is the problem… if [the economy] moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it…” Apparently realizing the same, the government of Pakistan has designed the construction package as an amnesty scheme to spur the private sector into construction by almost eliminating taxation, minimizing regulation and reducing the role of the government. The government hopes that the package will have the intended effect on the value chain and employment.

ENGINEERING REVIEW

Govt Urged To Opt For Renewable Energy Sources Instead Of Coal

on 09/07/2020

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Mohammad Ali Shah, chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), said: “The government should stop power generation through dirty fuels such as coal. It would be wiser to invest in the development of renewable and alternate energy resources such as the sun and solar panels, the wind and wind mills, garbage and waste power plants, etc.”

Mr Shah was of the view that various researches by environmentalists and climate change experts indicate that coal power generation has a negative impact on lives. It also proves destructive for the environment and ecology of areas where they have coal power plants. He demanded of the federal government to initiate environment-friendly projects under the Alternative Renewable Energy Policy of 2019. “In the forthcoming budget 2020-21 the government should not allocate any funds for power general through fossil fuels. Instead, the government should allocate funds for renewable energy generation,” he said.

“There have been a large number of people displaced due to the development of coal mines and power generation units, but they have not been provided proper compensation for the lands and houses they lost. The grazing areas for livestock have been destroyed, too,” he said, adding that the government must pay proper compensation to the villagers and allocate land for grazing of animals.

“Currently, the government is installing coal-fired power plants in various parts of the country, including Tharparkar district and in the coastal districts of Karachi along with Hub and Gawadar, all of which pose a great danger to the ecology and the health of human beings living in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan. Experts also indicate that these coal power plants would destroy the fishing sector, which happens to provide livelihood to millions of fishermen living along the coastal areas.

‘The plants emit an estimated 1,400kg of mercury per year of which one-fifth would be deposited into land ecosystems’

“Still, the main affected people will be in Tharparkar where the government has initiated a number of projects of coal mining and power generation. A total of nine power plants with a total capacity of 3.7 gigawatts are proposed in Thar, which would constitute as one of the largest air pollutant, mercury and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions hot spots in South Asia,” Mr Shah added.

Poisonous emissions

It was explained that researchers say that the poisonous emissions from coal power plants and mines pose a great danger to the health of hundreds of thousands of people living near these power plants in Thar. “The plants emit an estimated 1,400kg of mercury per year of which one-fifth would be deposited into land ecosystems in the region,” said Shah. “And most of the deposits go to cropland, increasing the mercury concentrations in crops. The levels of mercury are potentially dangerous in an area with 100,000 inhabitants,” he said.

More research and statistics shared by Shah read: “The other health impacts due to coal mining and power generation include 40,000 asthma emergency room visits, 19,906 new cases of asthma in children, 32,000 premature births, 20 million days of work absence [sick leave] and 57,000 years lived with disability related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and stroke.”

Besides, it was also shared, that “coal mining and coal power plants create water shortage as these activities would destroy underground aquifers. In the coming years, coal mining in Tharparkar would require 4,000 billion gallons of water for the generation of 10 gigawatts of power. Hence 8,500 billion gallons of water would be consumed. This would create an acute shortage of water in Tharparkar, which is a desert, and which is already facing droughts.”

Saeed Baloch, PFF’s general secretary, and Shujauddin Qureshi of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research were also present at the press conference.

ENGINEERING REVIEW

Pakistan Has Become Self-Sufficient For The Making Of Ventilators

on 09/07/2020

Prime Minister Imran Khan has inaugurated the project of the local manufacturing of ventilators, including portable ones. The project has been run by National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) in Haripur. It has been approved by the FDA/CE after examining the reliability of the ventilators. Whereas the making of ventilators is also economical and user friendly in terms of usage and safety.

            This milestone achievement in the advancement technology proves the overflowing talent of the country. It shows that there is only a need for such initiatives that are the government’s support.

            Brig. Toufique Ahmed, Managing Director of NRTC introduced other sectors of NRTC and informed him about the services which are working in diverse areas including communication equipment, e-policing, electro-medical equipment, and hardware and software.

            Prime Minister Khan has praised the team of NRTC and instructed to continue the innovations for advanced technology. He also announced the government is giving serious attention towards the health sector and making a viable policy for the improvement of this ignored sector.

ENGINEERING REVIEW

Cement Sales Has Remarkably Increased In The Month Of June

on 09/07/2020

The sales of cement were continuously decreasing for the last three months. The month of June has given a boom in it and increased 19pc in the comparison of the same month of the last year.

            The report was released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the rise in the sales of domestic has been noted which is 3.835 m tones to 3.206m tones in the same period of the last year.

            The report also published the statistics of export of cement sales that have jumped 124pc which is a big achievement in the industrial sector. The betterment also provided a hope that the new fiscal would achieve another milestone.

           Whereas, there is a difference in the performance cement according to their zones, as the north is taken lead in domestic sales and the south moving ahead in exports. However, the reason for the decline in the Northern region is the protective policies of New Delhi, on the other side, Afghanistan is facing a decline in its constructive and both things giving its impact on the export of cement.

ENGINEERING REVIEW

Ideas about to change our world

on 04/07/2020

Sweat powered smartwatches
Engineers at the University of Glasgow have developed a new type of flexible supercapacitor, which stores energy, replacing the electrolytes found in conventional batteries with sweat.
It can be fully charged with as little as 20 microlitres of fluid and is robust enough to survive 4,000 cycles of the types of flexes and bends it might encounter in use.
The device works by coating polyester cellulose cloth in a thin layer of a polymer, which acts as the supercapacitor’s electrode.
As the cloth absorbs its wearer’s sweat, the positive and negative ions in the sweat interact with the polymer’s surface, creating an electrochemical reaction which generates energy.
“Conventional batteries are cheaper and more plentiful than ever before but they are often built using unsustainable materials which are harmful to the environment,” says Professor Ravinder Dahiya, head of the Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (Best) group, based at the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering.
“That makes them challenging to dispose of safely and potentially harmful in wearable devices, where a broken battery could spill toxic fluids on to skin.
“What we’ve been able to do for the first time is show that human sweat provides a real opportunity to do away with those toxic materials entirely, with excellent charging and discharging performance.
Self-healing ‘living concrete’
Scientists have developed what they call living concrete by using sand, gel and bacteria.
Researchers said this building material has structural load-bearing function, is capable of self-healing and is more environmentally friendly than concrete – which is the second most-consumed material on Earth after water.
The team from the University of Colorado Boulder believe their work paves the way for future building structures that could “heal their own cracks, suck up dangerous toxins from the air or even glow on command”.
Living robots
Tiny hybrid robots made using stem cells from frog embryos could one day be used to swim around human bodies to specific areas requiring medicine, or to gather microplastic in the oceans.
“These are novel living machines,” said Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont, who co-developed the millimetre-wide bots, known as xenobots.
“They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artefact: a living, programmable organism.
Tactile virtual reality
Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a prototype device which aims to put touch within VR’s reach, using a flexible material fitted with tiny vibrating components that can be attached to skin.
The system, known as epidermal VR, could be useful in other cases as well, from a child touching a display relaying the gesture to a family member located elsewhere, to helping people with amputations renew their sense of touch.
In gaming, it could alert players when a strike occurs on the corresponding body part of the game character.
The team’s design features 32 vibrating actuators on a thin 15cm by 15cm silicone polymer which sticks on to the skin without tape or straps and is free of large batteries and wires.
It uses near-field communication (NFC) technology – which is used in many smartphones for mobile payment today – to transfer the data.
“The result is a thin, lightweight system that can be worn and used without constraint indefinitely,” says Professor John A Rogers, who worked on the project.
Scientists hope that the technology could eventually find its way into clothing, allowing people with prosthetics to wear VR shirts that communicate touch through their fingertips.
Internet for everyone
e can’t seem to live without the internet (how else would you read sciencefocus.com?), but still only around half the world’s population is connected. There are many reasons for this, including economic and social reasons, but for some the internet just isn’t accessible because they have no connection.
Google is slowly trying to solve the problem using helium balloons to beam the internet to inaccessible areas, while Facebook has abandoned plans to do the same using drones, which means companies like Hiber are stealing a march. They have taken a different approach by launching their own network of shoebox-sized microsatellites into low Earth orbit, which wake up a modem plugged into your computer or device when it flies over and delivers your data.
Their satellites orbit the Earth 16 times a day and are already being used by organisations like The British Antarctic Survey to provide internet access to very extreme of our planet.
760mph trains
Hate commuting? Imagine, instead, your train carriage hurtling down a tunnel at the same speed as a commercial jet airliner. That’s the dream of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
His Hyperloop system would see ‘train’ passengers travel at up to 760mph through a vacuum tube, propelled by compressed air and induction motors. A site has been chosen with the goal of starting test runs in two years. Once built, the loop will ferry passengers between San Francisco and LA in 35 minutes, compared to 7.5 hours by train