In a much-needed move, Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has signed an agreement with the Association of Builders & Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) under which a sizeable number of fresh engineering graduates will be inducted into the construction industry as internees and will be given stipends jointly contributed by both sides.
The PEC has already allocated Rs200 million for the paid internship program—a flagship program of the council to facilitate young engineers for employment and acquire a set of skills.
PEC-ABAD collaboration, if executed in real terms is likely to benefit thousands of fresh graduates who in return will be able to pay back to the industry as experienced engineers.
The internship program is not only the facet of the council’s move with the construction industry. The council as well as ABAD also want engineers to establish a liaison with the construction industry for introducing modern trends that could also mitigate the ill impacts of climate change.
The program is spread over 6 months coupled with designing a mechanism for allowing final year engineering students to visit project sites so that the gap between theory and practice could be minimized.
Another welcome side of this initiative is that the PEC desires to get the Council of Architects and Town Planners on board too. If it happens then a triangle that is required in this country—academia, students, and industry—will be complete.
This agreement was signed in a ceremony in ABAD headquarters in Karachi where PEC Chairman Engr. Najeeb Haroon and ABAD Chairman Mohsin Shekhani led their respective teams. PEC Vice Chairman Sindh Engr. Mukhtiar Shaikh also graced the ceremony.
This moot was not confined to PEC and ABAD. The Council of Architects and Town Planners led by Arif Changezi and Akhuwat led by Amjad Saqib were very much there.
The council and Akhuwat—a known organization that funds small businesses across Pakistan—will also look into the possibility of how young engineers can be facilitated for launching their businesses.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a task force on climate change after the country is faced with the current heatwave and the melting of glaciers.
Experts predict climatic changes are expected to have wide-ranging impacts, such as reduced agricultural productivity, increased variability of water availability, increased coastal erosion and seawater incursion, and increased frequency of extreme climatic events.
All relevant federal ministers, secretaries, provincial chief secretaries and relevant provincial secretaries, Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) are members of the task force,
The task force will develop a comprehensive strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change in the country and prevent incidents such as the glacier incident in Hunza.
Chairing a high-level emergency meeting on the recent heatwave and the effects of climate change, the Prime Minister directed the task force to take measures to prevent food and water shortages, and to conserve water and forests.
Federal Ministers Syed Khurshid Shah, Sherry Rehman, Ehsas-ur-Rehman Mazari, Tariq Bashir Cheema, Maryam Aurangzeb, Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz, and officials of relevant agencies participated in the moot. Federal Minister for Education Rana Tanveer Hussain and provincial secretaries were connected through a video link.
PM Sharif directed to take immediate steps in this regard and present a report in the next meeting.
The meeting was informed that climate change was the main reason for the intense heatwave and Pakistan was the fifth most vulnerable country in the world in terms of climate change.
It was pointed out that Pakistan, despite having large reserves of glaciers, was also at risk of water scarcity, which could have a direct impact on the country’s agriculture.
The Prime Minister directed to formulate a comprehensive strategy in this regard on an emergency basis and also stressed the launch of a public awareness campaign for water conservation.
He called for immediate measures to ensure store rainwater before the next monsoon.
The Prime Minister was also briefed on the water shortage in Cholistan, to which he directed an immediate supply of water for human settlements and animals.
He directed to ensure immediate relief activities in the recent heatwave in Cholistan by the district administration and relevant agencies. PM Sharif directed the chairman of NDMA to visit Hunza immediately and also stressed upon the reconstruction of the bridge that collapsed during the glacier melting.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has imposed a fine of Rs50 million on the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) for its failure to restore the power supply following the january 2021 blackout.
After a 20-hour long shutdown, NEPRA had constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the power plunge that occurred on January 9 and submitted the inquiry report to the authority.
Later on, the proceedings against NTDC were initiated based on the inquiry report.
A report said an explanation was called from NTDC the national grid operator on April 1, 2021, on the basis of the inquiry report under Rule 4(1) of the Nepra (Fines) Rules 2002. This was followed by a show-cause notice to the system operator on August 25, 2021, under Section 27B of the Nepra Act.
The regulator said it also provided an opportunity of hearing to NTDC on January 12, 2022, but it failed to provide any satisfactory response and was found guilty of violating relevant provisions of the Grid Code, hence the Rs50m fine. The regulator said it had also initiated legal proceedings against concerning power plants for their lapses, deficiencies, and failures in the said breakdown, which were currently under process and being dealt with separately.
Interestingly, a separate internal inquiry committee of the NTDC had absolved the NTDC of any fault and blamed the staff of Guddu Power Company. No NTDC officer/official has been found negligent for discharge of his duties, as the event which initiated this widespread breakdown was not in NTDCs system, rather it was in the 220kv switchyard of Guddu Old Thermal Power Station under the control of CPGCL (Central Power Generation Company Limited), said the NTDC`s inquiry report.

Sindh Minister for Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Memon has asked Sindh Mass Transit Authority for making Orange Line operational. He has reportedly set a deadline of a month.
Memon who presided over a meeting reviewed issues linked to BRT Orange Line project and directed the secretary, transport Sindh to hold a meeting with Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited to expedite the pace of work on the service.
Memon assured the moot that he would personally talk to Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal so that the project could be operationalized. The Orange Line should be made operational in a month to facilitate safe and comfortable traveling to the citizens of Orangi Town and adjoining areas, he said.
He took a detailed briefing on the mandate of the Sindh Mass Transit Authority and mass transit projects.
The meeting was informed that the BRT Green Line Phase 1 is operational from Surjani Town up to Numaish roundabout, while BRT Yellow, Orange and Red Lines are in the implementation phase.
The Green Line is a project of the federal government and will be handed over to the Sindh government in three years. It was further informed in the briefing that 98 percent of civil work of the Orange Line project from Orangi Town to the Board Office has been completed.
The project is completely funded by the Sindh government and is being executed under SIDCL – a federal government company. It was also informed that the Sindh government has made payments to SIDCL for the procurement of 20 buses for Orange Line.

Since ancient times, hydropower has been used to grind flour and accomplish other duties. Water-driven power gave the energy needed for the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
Hydropower has ability to provide significant volumes of low-carbon electricity on-demand, making it an important component of many safe and clean electricity systems. Because the quantity of electricity produced by the station may be modified up or down in seconds or minutes to react to changing energy demands, it is also a flexible source of electricity with a dam and reservoir. Large-scale hydroelectric power plants are more frequently regarded as the world’s largest power plants, with some hydroelectric plants equipped for creating over two times the introduced limits of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. Hydropower is a versatile source of energy since stations can be easily scaled up and down to meet changing energy demands. The start-up time of a hydro turbine is on the order of a few minutes. Although battery electricity is faster, its capacity is insignificant when compared to hydropower. Most hydro units go from cold start-up to full load in less than 10 minutes, which is faster than nuclear and practically all fossil fuel generation. Many hydroelectric projects are designed to service public energy grids, while others are designed to serve individual industrial firms. Dedicated hydroelectric projects are frequently constructed to deliver the large amounts of electricity required by aluminum electrolytic plants. Large reservoirs connected with traditional hydroelectric power plants submerge large regions upstream of the dams, obliterating organically rich and useful swamp and riverine valley backwoods, wetlands, and grasslands in the process. Damming rivers disrupts their flow and can impact local ecosystems, and big dams and reservoirs typically result in the displacement of people and species. Water has the potential to move particles heavier than itself downstream when it flows. This has a deleterious impact on dams and, as a result, power plants, particularly those located along rivers or in high-siltation catchment areas. Siltation can fill a reservoir, reducing its capacity to manage floods while also increasing horizontal pressure on the dam’s upstream section. Flue gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are eliminated by hydroelectricity, including pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, dust, and mercury in coal. In addition, hydroelectricity avoids the dangers of coal mining as well as the indirect health effects of coal pollution.
Hydroelectric capacity is ranked based on either actual yearly energy production or installed capacity power rating. Hydropower produced 16.6% of the world’s total electricity in 2015, and 70% of all renewable electricity.
The quantity of energy produced by a dam will be proportional to changes in river flow. Lower river flows diminish the quantity of live storage in a reservoir, limiting the amount of water available for hydroelectric power generation. In locations that rely largely on hydroelectric power, reduced river flow might result in power shortages. As a result of climate change, the probability of a flow shortage may increase.
Hydroelectric projects can have an impact on aquatic habitats both upstream and downstream of the plant’s location. The downstream river ecosystem is altered as a result of hydroelectric power generation. The water that exits a turbine normally has relatively little suspended sediment, which can cause riverbed scouring and riverbank erosion.
When there is an excess of electricity, it is also possible to reduce power generation quickly. As a result, hydropower units’ limited capacity is rarely used to generate base electricity, except to drain the flood pool or meet downstream needs. Instead, it can be used as a standby generator for non-hydro generators.