Would CPEC come clean in the review? By Manzoor Shaikh

on 04/09/2018

Pakistan has decided to review a complete set of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, costing US$64 billion.

The decision was taken in the third meeting of the federal cabinet which discussed the 100-day plan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

The moot formed a number of task forces for achieving targets on various commitments that the party made before the July 25 elections in the country. Among them is a committee which has been assigned with the task of reviewing CPEC projects.

This committee is headed by Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is its member.

As per decision, the committee would present a complete review of CPEC projects to the prime minister. But still many doubt the review is a serious effort and is aimed at making it useful for Pakistan. Would it be presented in the parliament? No one knows for sure.

Independent economists and development experts have long been demanding that all agreements for CPEC projects should be made public and be presented before the parliament.
The atmosphere of secrecy has created doubts in Pakistan while many foreign experts claim CPEC loans are doomed to bring difficulties for cash-strapped Pakistan in near future.

During Nawaz Sharif government, numerous Pakistani newspapers printed a number of stories which claim the interests of Pakistan have been compromised in the agreements.

PTI leader Imran Khan has been promising to make parliament stronger and now it is demanded that all agreement signed with Chinese should be made public and presented in the parliament.

Leaders of Pakistan’s local trade and industry have concerns that the CPEC initiative would eventually affect ingenious industrial and business base and turn Pakistan into a consumer society.

Over US$28 billion CPEC projects including US$22 billion energy schemes are currently in progress while about $46 billion projects are in the pipeline.

Few days after the cabinet huddle, Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar moved on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) saying the development of the SEZs was the priority of the new government to ensure the creation of new jobs, achieve high economic growth and encourage exports.

He presided over a meeting attended by Secretary Ministry of Planning, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Project Director CPEC, Hassan Daud, officials from the Board of Investment, Ministry of Commerce and Industries.

Reviewing progress on SEZs, the minister instructed to fast-track the processes and to enhance coordination amongst the line ministries to ensure early implementation of this important sector of CPEC.
The minister stated that CPEC SEZs offers huge potential to create jobs and commitment of the government to the people as per the vision of the prime minister.
He tasked all stakeholders to complete all processes to ensure groundbreaking of the prioritized SEZs in the coming three months.

This meeting and the decisions show how informed is Bakhtiar of the concerns of trade and business community on SEZs or he has just avoided to take them seriously. These zones were opposed by business chambers of Punjab and they had written to his predecessor. They feared they might come on the road if such project was realized.

The PTI government should have taken the concerned people on board before moving on CPEC’s those projects which are detrimental to the local industry.
Instead, the minister instructed to work for the development of SEZ in Federal Capital Territory that may host IT, telecom and services sector.

In a separate meeting, he also reviewed progress on CPEC energy projects.

Bakhtiar said under the directives of the Prime Minister, the government intends to encourage projects based on indigenous sources of energy including Thar Coal, hydel and renewable.

He said that the choice of local energy sources would also reduce our import bill. He also instructed the concerned officials to explore opportunities of future power projects in these sectors to be included in CPEC energy portfolio.

Some Moments Of IEEEP Fair 2018 From The Lens Of Engineering Review!

on 30/08/2018

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of Pakistan (IEEEP) organized its 9th Industrial Fair from 31 July -2 August 2018. This fair was one of the biggest Electronics and Electrical Engineering Industrial Exhibition in Pakistan, show-cased a large collection of industrial merchandise and service products. Many foreign exhibitors utilized this platform to launch their products in the region.

Engineering Review also participated in the fair as Media Partner!

9th IEEEP Fair 2018 A successful show sans in-depth analysis

on 27/08/2018

The 9th IEEEP Fair held in Karachi’s Expo Center concluded with a positive note and the organizers must be happy with the targets they expected to achieve from such an impressive show.

But still, the fair brought in focus many aspects which should be considered by the leadership of the institution and also by engineering community in Pakistan at large. A genuine analysis of the outcome of such a congregation is a must.

First the bright side! The fair unveiled itself for three days in 4 halls of the Expo Center was well organized and it depicted how Badar expo has transformed into a hardcore organizer of such kind of exhibitions in Pakistan. Also, it showed a comfort level between IEEEP, Karachi Center and its event organizer but some analysts find a slight imbalance indicating a minimizing role of the institution in the organization of the event.

The institution deserves appreciation that it eyes at what Pakistan requires in the future for its engineering sectors as well as its economy.

The technical sessions of the event were well focused and aiming at Electrical vehicles was applaudable as the participants came to know the History of Impediments in introducing locally manufactured EVs in Pakistan. Prof. Dr. Abid Karim from Usman Institute of Technology (UIT) was there to talk about it.

Then, Prof. Dr. Nasim A Khan’s talk on the ‘EVs for Pakistan make economic sense at any time’ synchronized with the world and of course with the national demand moving towards a sustainable future, of which emission-free cars are among its major ingredients.

On Renewables & Distributed Generation front, Dr. Cao’s talk about ‘Modern Wind Technology for achieving better grid stability in Pakistan’, Engr. Mayura Botejue’s talk on ‘Wind and distributed generation in Pakistan’ and Dr. Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan’s talk in the panel discussion on ‘Net Metering’ was just splendid.

The recommendations of the session would surely help policymakers to incorporate many ingredients that the conference highlighted throughout the technical sessions.

The activity outside the conference hall provided an opportunity to electrical, electronics and allied industry alongside with other engineering sectors to interact with each other and talk about rapid developments taking place in the electrical, electronics and allied engineering technology around the world.

Right there where a constellation of Pakistani and foreign companies was present, the absence of some known companies such as Siemens, Sh. Wilayat Ahmed & Sons, Ameenjee Valeejee & Sons (AVS), Pakistan Cables, ABB and others which used to be the part and parcel of the fair was felt. Many vigilant visitors wonder why such reputable companies decided to stay away from the event.

Although the fair had in attendance many local manufacturers, they did not make a big share among the exhibitors and, thus foreign companies, especially from China or Pakistani dealers of foreign companies, seemed to steal the show.

Ironically, the more foreign companies seem to participate in the exhibitions and make them a success, the more local companies confront the issues of their survival. Why is that so is something the institution should come up with an in-depth analysis.

Also, there were many exhibitors who were not happy with the level of the participation by the consultants. We look at them for our products which affect our products positively in the market, says one among them.

They also point out a trend of students’ participation which is on the rise and it does not go well with the exhibitors. The participation of the students may be realized because of their respective universities which made a prominent presence in the fair this time. However, they do not affect the business of the exhibitors.

Engr. Murad Ali Shah is back!

on 27/08/2018

Murad Ali Shah returned as the chief minister for his second tenure in Sindh after the Sindh Assembly voted him successful on August 17.

Murad Shah who bagged all 97 PPP votes in the assembly against his rival Shaharyar Shar’s 61 votes has complaints that his development efforts in Karachi were ignored by his opponents in Karachi.

Syed Murad Ali Shah who succeeded his fellow Syed Qaim Ali Shah on July 26, 2016, is a civil engineer from NED University of Engineering & Technology—probably one of the major reasons that the leaders of professional engineering institutions have begun to believe he would bring about a change. Not only that but also his competence does create his merit too. ‘He is a competent engineer. He was two years junior to me in the university but I knew him studying late into the night and waking up early morning’, recalled Engineer Sohail Bashir, the Vice Chairman IEEP Karachi. Engineer Sohail Bashir is not alone who sees improvement is coming from the new chief minister. Vice Chairman Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) Engineer Inam Usmani also expected him to be a harbinger of delivery. “I am sure he will work appropriately and thus bring an improvement”, he said. He is a technical man and we believe the quality of engineering projects in Sindh would be improved; they must be economical too and be completed in due time, he says. For instance, he added a project costing Rs.100 in real terms should not be done in Rs.2000. We surely support him, he stated while talking to ER back in 2016. Sindh’s development has been a cause for concern and there was hardly any city or town in the province which spoke of improvement in terms of infrastructure.

Shah’s initiatives boosted many projects in Karachi Karachi and he mentioned in the assembly after taking oath those projects that he carried out during his tenure.

Now when he is back on the seat, he is expected to look into the provincial Annual development Programs (ADPs) which fall short of their fullest utilization and hundreds of development schemes remain in the doldrums. The chief minister has been in close contact with engineering universities including one his own—NED—and also with Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and professional engineering institutions. He is the only chief minister who consults these institutions, he aides claim.

By Manzoor Shaikh

Mehran University granted its very first patent

on 27/08/2018

MUET- A patent titled “A SYSTEM OF SECURE TRANSMISSION OF PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA FOR WIRELESS BODY AREA NETWORKS “ that was accepted by IPO Pakistan in February 2018 and was open for any objection has now acquired the final status of “GRANTED PATENT” by IPO Pakistan and is “SEALED” now.

The inventors of this patent are Dr. Attiya Baqai, Dr. Fahim A. Umrani, and Dr. Bhawani S. Chowdhry – IICT-MUET.

This patent was filed in Intellectual Property Organization IPO Pakistan in February 2016 and is granted on 26 July 2018.

The patent is based on the development of an Optical Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) that uses infrared signaling in a secure manner. Furthermore, a novel protocol is developed and tested with the transmission and reception of physiological data/vital signs over a short range.

The Patent is based on a PhD project carried out by Dr. Attiya Baqai (Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics, MUET) under supervision of Dr. Bhawani Shanker Chowdry (DEAN FEECE, MUET) and Dr. Fahim Aziz Umrani (Associate professor, Department of Telecommunication, MUET) and was funded by the Endowment Scheme Faculty Development Program under Institute of Information & Communication Technologies (IICT), Mehran University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro. The inventors sincerely pay their gratitude to the worthy Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili who really encouraged this research project to go for patent filing. This Ph.D. project has yielded in total 4 (national and international) journal papers, one Ph.D. symposium conference paper and one patent publication.

Mehran University has until now 14 patents with the status of filed patents, from which some are published and under evaluation. This is the first patent which is granted.