Tag Archives: CPEC

Human resource the biggest issue of Balochistan

on 11/03/2018

Pakistan lacks specialized skilled resource for CPEC: Gen. Muhammad Asghar

 A consultant of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Lt. Gen. (R) Muhammad Asghar has said lack of human resource is the biggest issue of the country especially in Balochistan, where the successive provincial governments have failed to invest in education and skill development sectors over the many years. In such a situation, he believes Balochistan will be running out of its people when CPEC related activities will be generated in the province.

Gen. Muhammad Asghar who was the guest of honor at the IEEEP All Pakistan Students Seminar in Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro said, while talking to Engineering Review that Balochistan required a shift in its attitude otherwise no change would take place in the province.

He put forth an example from the US which according to him developed after inviting people from all over the world. Balochistan needs skilled people and unfortunately it does not have at home because of the lack of education. The manpower in Balochistan is not sufficient thus CPEC initiatives will require more people who should be invited from other provinces, he says. Besides Baloch, Balochistan houses Pakhtoon population also which will be employed will

yed but still Balochi

 

stan will be running out of men to respond to the demand of CPEC.

“Punjab’s population is reluctant to go to Balochistan due to security issues”, he said. “Also there was already a lot of potential for them in Punjab”.The lack of skilled human resource in Pakistan has forced Chinese to bring their men for the works Pakistanis are not prepared for? It seems so if one listens to Gen. Asghar. “Chinese would come for the sectors we are not skilled for”, he said claiming “But still over 60 thousand Pakistanis are working on CPEC projects in the country.”

Gen. Asghar who gave a detailed briefing on CPEC’s potential for future engineers to a houseful auditorium of the university was keen to respond to the concerns as regards Balochistan. “Balochistan is on the verge of a huge generation of activities under CPEC and now it’s up to the people of the province how they reap its benefits. Balochistan has a larger part of Pakistan’s coastline where 5 to 6 ports would be developed and all benefits are sure to go to Balochistan,” he says. “The subsequent revenue will go to Balochistan; not to Punjab. Now it is up to the people of Punjab especially youth how they get benefits.”Gen. Asghar said the HEC was making all out efforts to produce human resource—the job Pakistan should have begun with from 2007, a decade back from today. We are lagging behind and now trying to bridge the gap. Dwelling over the lacking, he revealed there were many fields in which Pakistan did not have expertise. For instance, we are going for US$8.2 billion railway project but we don’t have experts in railway engineering. While launching master course in UIT we came to know about just one PhD. in the field. Pakistan will have a series of ports right from Gwadar to Keti Bundar in Sindh but the education link is missing since we don’t have ports management and handling engineers. We now have Orange Line in Punjab but don’t have mass transit management experts.

Gen. Muhammad Asghar was sure there was huge scope for engineers in CPEC. For such a purpose, Pakistan’s universities are being linked with Chinese universities. He announced MUET would soon be the part of consortiums of engineering universities. He told the audience that over 20 thousand Pakistanis are enrolled in Chinese universities in various education programs.

Door open to yuan-based trade with China: SBP

on 30/01/2018

Dec 19, 2017, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the government was considering a Chinese proposal to use renminbi (RMB or yuan) instead of the US dollar for payments in all bilateral trade between China and Pakistan.The decision was taken after rejecting a Chinese proposal to allow yuan as legal tender in Gwadar, Balochistan.

`The SBP, in the capacity of the policy maker of financial and currency markets, has taken comprehensive policy related measures to ensure that imports, exports and financing transactions can be denominated in yuan,` said a statement issued by the SBP. It further said both public and private sector enterprises (ie both Pakistanis and Chinese) are free to choose yuan for bilateral trade and investment activities.

The RMB is an approved currency for denominating foreign currency transactions in Pakistan. The SBP has already put in place the required regulatory framework which facilitates use of yuan in trade and investment transactions such as opening of letter of credits (LCs) and availing financing facilities in yuan.

In terms of regulations in Pakistan, yuan is on a par with other international currencies such as dollar, euro and Japanese yen, etc. In FY17, Pakistan exported goods and services worth $1.62 billion while the imports from China were $10.57bn reflecting a great imbalance.

The two countries have yet not chnalised a free trade agreement (FTA). The FTA may benefit exports from Pakistan as the country critically needs to improve its exports due to huge trade deficits. After signing a Currency Swap Agreement (CSA) with People`s Bank of China (PBoC) in 2012,

SBP had taken a series of steps to promote use of yuan in Pakistan for bilateral trade and investment with China. The central bank has allowed banks to accept deposits and give trade loans in yuan. For onward lending the proceeds of CSA, the SBP has put in place the loan mechanism for banks to get the yuan financing from the SBP for onward lending to importers and exporters having underlying trade transactions denominated in the Chinese currency.

In 2012, the SBP issued a circular that said the authorised dealers may open for-foreign currency accounts and extend trade loans under FE-25 Scheme in US dollar, pound sterling, euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, UAE dirham, Saudi riyal, Chinese yuan, Swiss franc and Turkish lira. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) Pakistan has been allowed to establish a local yuan settlement and clearing setup in Pakistan enabling it to open yuan accounts of the Chinese banks operating in Pakistan and to facilitate settlement of yuan-based transactions such as remittance to/from China.

With the opening of Bank of China in Pakistan, the access to onshore Chinese markets will strengthen further. Apart from the above, several banks in Pakistan maintain onshore yuan nostro accounts, said the SBP.  Considering the recent local and global economic developments, particularly with the growing size of trade and investment with China under CPEC, the Bank foresees that yuan denominated trade with China will increase significantly and will yield long term benefits for both the countries. When asked, the SBP spokesman said the statement on yuan was issued due to many queries from media about the use of the currency for bilateral trade. He said it seemed there was confusion about the use of yuan for bilateral trade which was clarified with this detailed statement.

Work on Bhasha Dam likely to begin in Aug 2018

on 03/01/2018

Prime Minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi has approved a summary relating to PC-1, financial arrangements and the proposed plan for launching civil work on 4,500MW Diamer Basha dam project, claims Wapda chairman.

After getting the final approval, Wapda has started the required paperwork before initiating the bidding process and launching civil work on the project in August this year.`We had recently sent a summary to the effect and the prime minister approved it.Since we will require next three to six months in completing the bidding process for hiring consultants and contractors, I am keen on launching civil work in August next year, ` Wapda Chairman Muzammil Hussain told media.

The project continued to be delayed for the last many years due to funding and land acquisition issues. The groundbreaking [ceremony] of the project had been performed in 2006 by the then president Pervez Musharraf.

`Funding and land acquisition delayed the project. We faced a delay of almost 11years because of Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding the funding arrangement of $14 billion. And finally the ADB wrote a letter to us last year, stating that the project cannot be launched in the disputed territory, ` he said. Hussain said Wapda briefed the ADB team that $14bn was not a big issue since the authority would require funds (approximately) $7bn for the dam portion alone.

‘We told them that we will be requiring just a billion dollar a yearfrom ADB, and rest of the money including $4bn for power house, can be arranged by us through other resources including commercial financing and equity. Since they were unable to understand our point of view we finally got rid of them after China assured us to fund the project under CPEC ‘he said.

Later, China imposed harsh conditions and Wapda refused to accept them.`I refused to give ownership and operation & maintenance (O&M) of the project to the Chinese. So we have now decided to launch and completed major part of the project on our own, ` the chairman said.

He said 85 per cent of land acquisition for Basha dam had been completed. `The remaining 15pc relates to the resettlement of the affectees. But the issue is that there is no land available further. So Wapda has decided to give them sufficient money instead of the land so that they could live wherever they want.

Talking about Mohmand dam, he said the authority was all set to launch civil work on the $3bn project by June or July next year. `It is a very important dam in terms of availability of 1.2MAF water storage, 800MW hydel power generation, availability of water for Peshawar and irrigation of 30,000 acre agriculture land in the area.Moreover, the dam would mitigate the flood chances in Noshehra and Charsadda forever, ` he claimed.

Furthermore, the project involved minimum land acquisition. `The bidding process for hiring consultants has been initiated, as about 15 companies have applied for this. I have planned to get 50 to 55pc of the total cost of the dam from the government. And the rest we will arrange through our resources and commercial financing, ` he said.

NHA’s CPEC projects exempted from import duties

on 02/01/2018

Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved a proposal for the grant of exemption from tax/duties for import of construction material for infrastructure projects of National Highway Authority under the CPEC project.

This exemption would be applicable only to the construction of Sukkur-Multan section of Peshawar to Karachi Motorway project. Sukkur-Multan Motorway, the six-lane, 393km motorway is part of the eastern route of CPEC. It will be completed in 2019 at the cost of Rs294 billion.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired the meeting of ECC at Prime Minister House. ECC also permitted WAPDA to raise financing from banks against the sovereign guarantee of the government of Pakistan (GoP) for the purpose of clearance of arrears of net hydel profits of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and government of Punjab. The WAPDA would raise a loan of Rs70 billion from commercial banks to pay net hydel profit (NHP) along with arrears to KPK and Punjab. Punjab and KP are said to be unhappy on undue delay in clearance of their dues. Since WAPDA is running out of money, it has to raise loans backed by a GoP guarantee from commercial banks. The Finance Division assured to provide the requisite guarantee.

The ECC also approved a proposal for reduction of certain regulatory duties on certain items as proposed by the Federal Board of Revenue.  FBR had moved a summary before the ECC for rationalising 10 percent regulatory (RD) imposed on 1250 KV gas generators. Textile industry complained that they are being used by them to reduce the cost of production of the textile products.

The government has also withdrawn RD on spare parts of the auto sector and tyres. The prices of vehicles tyres have surged from Rs.500 to Rs.5,000 after the imposition of RD. Representatives of Tyres Association stated that vehicles tyres do not fall under the category of luxury items and have become a necessity. ECC approved exemption from relending policy of Government of Pakistan for funds released to State Bank of Pakistan for implementation of Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure Project.

The ECC also approved a proposal of Ministry of National Food Security and Research to allow the governments of Punjab and Sindh to export 1.5 and 0.5 million tons of wheat including wheat products. The export of wheat and wheat products would be completed before the 30th June 2018.

Proposal for exemption from provision of section 113 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 for public sector universities was also approved by the ECC. The proposal of exemption from applicability of section 5A of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to companies with special agreement with the government of Pakistan was approved by ECC.  ECC also approved a proposal for the procurement of 0.3 MMT of sugar from the surplus stock of the sugar mills, through tendering process and to export the same through international tendering process. The step would enable the mills to procure sugarcane from the growers at the prescribed rate and to ensure timely payments to the farmers.

17th ITCN Asia 2017 Security & Local Engineering

on 27/10/2017

The 17th ITCN Asia 2017, Pakistan’s biggest international exhibition and conference on Information Technology (IT) & Telecommunications which merged firefighting also attracted a huge number of exhibitors as well as visitors. The exhibition opened on September 21 was inaugurated by Syed Ismail Shah, Chairman PTA. The event emerged on over 150,000 sq feet of exhibition area where more than 600 international & domestic brands with 150+ foreign delegates and participants from more than 25 countries were present. Also, over 50 startup companies and experts along with a huge number of visitors graced the event. A number of professionals from various companies talked to Engineering Review on various aspects of the event and also issues concerning local engineering industry in Pakistan. Here are some of them:

Sajid Mehmood – SECCO Pak (Pvt.) Ltd.

On the last day, the participation is lower than our expectation. But still, it is good and there is a targeted participation. Therefore, we feel we have achieved our targets. Should this have been a joint IT-Fire Safety event? As regards strategies he said: we prefer individual categories for exhibition. This time all categories have been merged which has mixed the visitors. Clients and visitors have been divided and we can say they have been a bit confused one can say. They were finding it difficult to focus if it is IT or fire safety. There are concerns as regards CPEC. Local Pakistani markets and industry must grow. Let’s suppose we make doors of international quality. Yet we have faced difficulty some times that the client demands an imported product. Therefore, the government should protect products which are easily available in local market and meet international standards. What is the major hindrance that we face in competing imported products? Is it cost or technology? I think there is no issue with quality as we follow international standards. Yet our market is not that big and does not have much consumption. Therefore, the basic cost of our remains high due to low volume of production. That’s why you cannot compete. I have recently worked on a project requiring 5000 doors and it affected per unit cost by 30 percent. It was due to big volume. This way the industrial overhead would come down if the volume grows in other sectors also and they would be able to compete. If we get access to Chinese markets after CPEC then would it be possible that we can compete? I think it is a wishful thinking that we shall have access. The only step which may work is that the local industry should be given protection. In other case, our industry cannot survive in long term.

Ibrahim Ariqat – SFFECO Global

We are here for the very first time in this exhibition. The objective is to support our business. Happy to do business in Pakistan. Pakistan market is improving and there is a lot of potential here. The response in the exhibition is fair. We are here to support our distributors and boost confidence of our end users. We have also introduced our new products in the field of firefighting.We are a Middle Eastern company. We have launched a diesel engine here. We are producing it now. We are in Karachi for the first time as a company. Earlier, we have been focusing Islamabad. In Karachi we were here for a couple of tomes with our distributors.

 

Syed Ahmed Ali – Secure Vision

Basically it is an ICTN event but firefighting has also been merged with it. Since we don’t find any other event on fire fighting in Karachi, we participated in this exhibition. This time the participation is unprecedented and we find many companies which we did not expect to join. It was a good interaction. We met here with companies which we were doing business with for last many years but had not met them physically. This event offered us an opportunity to interact with them directly.In this background, merging IT with firefighting is a creative idea and we support it. Now, security field like CCTV is clubbed with IT. Cameras and networking are connected with IT and other products also.I think we have achieved our target and we have had a good audience during all three days here.CPECI always think positive. When I started my business some 14 years back I used to push the client to buy a security camera but today there is a market. It is natural when you have an expanded market there always emerges a competition which signifies quality of the product. I think this process always benefits the industry. Like the product we are selling is different from others. Why is that so? Because we distribute Flir’s product supported by R&D unlike Chinese who copy other companies. What we sell is a proactive system which gives alerts before any breach or incident. While, the other companies sell reactive system which gives you an access to video after happening. It means you spend millions on cameras just to get video so that you come to know how it all happened.Our system is called video analytics under which we give a certain command to camera which alerts you in case any abnormal activity is screened around. This is a new technology and making its market fast around the world. We are among few companies which are working on video analytics.

Syed Abdul Samad Director, Delta Fire Safety & Security System

Participation was good. This time round the arrangement here was different. I think it should have been separate like firefighting, safety and security. Firefighting should have been in the middle. Thus, this category is a bit disturbed. Hopefully it will be better in the future.CPECOf course we have some concerns. But there are some advantages as well. If Chinese companies are operating from here with their manpower, it makes their business expensive. Therefore, we can benefit subsequently. Like we are not only installing the system but also provide service to maintain it. Many Chinese companies are working with us. If Chinese provide equipment, we provide service.Technology transferTechnology is standardized. We cannot change it as there are global standards. Yes, if there is some change required in lines with such standards we do it to make the system run. Chinese also follow standards of world firefighting organization and thus the system goes on.

Hamid Jalal – Combine Network

We have been participating in this event since 2014. We are pioneer exhibitors of Security Asia. We did it in 2015 and 2016 also. So we have been part and parcel of this event. We were instrumental in inviting Chinese companies participating here. We have been doing business with Chinese companies since 2012.You people started with 2 halls and now it has developed into 6 halls. How about the business? It grew simultaneously?We don’t sell on the spot here. These exhibitions are aimed at spreading awareness as regards new products. The people are aware of security issues here in Pakistan therefore they visit to get to know about addressing them through security products. So they see which product can minimize their security threat. We are about to launch a new system which is called facial recognition system. The only solution in Pakistan. In this system, the facial data of wanted people would be stored and the camera will alert you once any criminal is detected. It can be installed at airports and other sensitive places. The camera will detect the people even if they change their getup.CPECI think the people who are working hard should not be concerned. Business is everywhere in the world. If we have ability to do business you should not be concerned about anything. If you cannot do it then you will get concerned about even tiny things. We should not have any issues with Chinese. Yes, there must be some terms and conditions set with Chinese. While doing business with Chinese, do you focus on technology transfer?Yes we do. Like I had demanded that we need a system which can detect wanted faces. Before that they provided cameras in which such feature was not included. They added alarm in the system on our requirement as we knew what we want in Pakistan’s specific security conditions.ParticipationIt was good. The concept of visitors is pretty clear now. I think it depends on exhibitor how smart system they are offering and defining it to clients. We believe in service along with doing business.