Business Relay Group and the Pakistan Society of Plumbing Professionals (PSPP) organized the 2nd Pakistan Water Summit in March at a local hotel in Karachi in celebration of the United Nations’ World Water Day.
The summit was organized with the theme “Accelerating Change” and aimed to promote sustainable water management practices in Pakistan.
The summit brought together a diverse range of stakeholders, including policymakers, industry experts, academics, and civil society representatives, to discuss water-related challenges and find solutions to accelerate change toward sustainable water management practices in Pakistan. The summit focused on key issues such as water scarcity, water pollution, and climate change, and highlighted the importance of adopting innovative technologies and best practices to ensure sustainable water management.
The event featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, and interactive workshops that provided participants with the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue and knowledge sharing. The summit showcased successful case studies and highlighted the importance of cross-sectorial collaboration in addressing water-related challenges.
Speaking about the event, Engr. Sajjad Ghani, President, Pakistan Society of Plumbing Professionals, said, “We are thrilled to have organized the Pakistan Water Summit in celebration of the UN World Water Day. We recognize the importance of promoting sustainable water management practices and believe that the summit has played a crucial role in accelerating change toward this goal. We hope that this event will inspire and motivate all stakeholders to continue working towards sustainable water management practices in Pakistan.”
Mr. Abbas Sajid, General Secretary of the Pakistan Society of Plumbing Professionals, told, “The Pakistan Water Summit has provided a unique platform for stakeholders to share their experiences, best practices, and innovative ideas towards ensuring sustainable water management in Pakistan.
Mr. Faraz Khan, CEO, Business Relay Group, added, “We are committed to continuing this dialogue and collaboration and look forward to building on the success of this event.”
The Pakistan Water Summit was a resounding success, with participants from a wide range of sectors coming together to discuss solutions and strategies to accelerate change toward sustainable water management practices in Pakistan. The summit demonstrated the importance of collaboration, innovation, and partnership in addressing the critical water-related challenges facing the country.

T hough Jubilee Corporation is undoubtedly a big name in the engineering world in Pakistan, the company’s understanding of modern technologies and engineering surely transmits signals to its international partners—Lovato Electric—makes it a distinct engineering concern in Pakistan. The level of satisfaction comes from Lovato through its representative for Asia Pacific region Julien Mermillon who talked to ER during Multitopic Sympoisum 2023 hosted by IEEEP in Karachi. Here is his interview for our readers.
How is Lovato’s relationship with Jubilee Corporation?
It’s a great pleasure to work with Jubilee Corporation. They are very competent people with high technical skills. At Lovato, we sell quite complex engineering solutions, mainly focusing on energy management, metering, control, and protection equipment. Today’s topic was dynamic power factor correction, which is part of power quality solutions. But mainly, we are focusing on metering equipment to understand power quality and the energy consumption. This is about how the energy is spent and if the energy supplied to a facility has proper power quality to avoid any issues. Jubilee Corporation is providing a complete mix of solutions by Lovato, including what we discussed in the Symposium. This solution provides great efficiency at a reasonable cost suitable for the facilities of Pakistan.
The people are conscious of the cost here despite the importance of technology. How is it possible to offer efficient systems at lower costs?
The matter of cost is always, like we say, a balance between CapEx and OpEx. You can invest in technology with cheap products and solutions, which may last only two years. It means you have lost your valuable time and money. A quality product can last for 15 years, which is generally what Lovato is offering. We use the best quality parts in our products. Let’s assume that the product is a box, and inside this box are electronics. Our electronics are made up of premium quality parts, which ensure long product life. It may be higher in cost initially, but over time, it is much cheaper than replacing a low-quality product three or four times in the same period. Lovato Electric is a main player in this category. We are a family-owned business, which means that the company is reinvesting its money to improve the product, not to please shareholders. We are making the best product at the best price, which means that we are expensive than low-quality products available in the market. Our customer is satisfied with the quality of our products.
Many people in the engineering sector believe the Chinese are a big challenge. Are they a challenge for your company too?
They are a challenge for the entire world, especially from the business point of view. Luckily, they target different market segments. Usually, they bring some very cheap solutions at the cost of low durability and reliability. Maybe you don’t see it here, but they also bring some very advanced solutions, which came to be at the same price as us. The main difference between Chinese and western or Japanese, or Korean companies is that we cannot afford to have low-cost and low-quality products due to the high cost of labor. If you install some low-cost equipment and you need to replace it after a few months, that will cost you a huge labor cost. This will also disturb the production process of the facility and reduce operational efficiency. So, in the end, it is a different market segment. Some people may want to try it, but others would not go for it.
You are also looking after the Asia Pacific region for Lovato. What is the landscape there in terms of metering and such solutions?
I would say, as compared to Lovato’s historical market, there are quite massive developments that involve huge numbers of meters to monitor energy consumption accurately. We have sold one of the biggest metering systems. It’s a competitive and challenging market, but I must say it is also a land of opportunity. Our partners, like Jubilee Corporation, are doing a great job representing Lovato products in their respective market.
While working with Jubilee Corporation, has Lovato had any thought to engage in any joint venture to manufacture products and provide systems in Pakistan?
Lovato is a family-owned business, and we don’t have many factories around the world. We have three manufacturing facilities in Italy. We are a medium size company, and we are focusing on staying efficient. We have no factory outside Europe. Time will tell us if we move on to the stage where we start manufacturing somewhere else outside Europe. I believe Pakistan could be a very high potential market for us. I am always pleased with the Jubilee Corporation team because they are probably the most technical people and well-accustomed to Lovato products. When we have some training sessions to check how much knowledge is assimilated by our partners, we are pleased to see that they are at the top of the list. By Manzoor Shaikh

The 2023 IEEE Region 10 Annual Meeting was recently held successfully in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after three years of virtual and hybrid meetings. Prior to the annual general meeting (AGM), a technical workshop sponsored by the Global Energy Interconnection Department and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) was held at the HCM City University of Technology on March 3. Over 100 leaders and delegates from IEEE Sections and Council in the region, as well as R10 ExCom members, attended the AGM. The IEEE dignitaries present were IEEE President, Professor Saifur Rahman, IEEE President Elect, Thomas Coughlin, IEEE-VP MGA, Jill Gostin, and IEEE Executive Director, Sophia Muirhead, who attended online, and Region 2 Director, Andrew Lowery. The meeting also received support and valuable advice from members of the R10 Nomination and Advisory Committee, including past IEEE President, Prof Toshio Fukuda, and past R10 Directors – Prof Akinori Nishihara, Prof Kukjin Chun, and Prof Janina Mazierska. Two special speakers from Region 8, Peter Nagy and Prof Mousmi Chaurasia, MGA Training Committee, were also invited.
During the meeting, there were speeches by IEEE senior leaders and speakers, reports and plans from various Chairs of R10 Committees, training and poster sessions, and presentations from flagship event organizers – TenSymp, R10 HTC, and TenCon in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The two-day event also included an award banquet with a cultural show, a half day of team bonding activities, and a dinner at an offsite restaurant. The feedback from delegates was positive, with lively discussions and active networking during the two days over breakfast, tea breaks, lunch, dinner, and even on the bus.
The success of the event was due to the contributions of all volunteers who are committed to the mission and vision of IEEE, and the assistance from the professional and efficient staff at the IEEE Asia-Pacific Office and IEEE Beijing office. The outcomes and success of the event were a result of the cooperation and dedication of everyone involved. It is also essential to recognize that human interactions cannot be replaced by online contacts. Finally, the organizers are confident that they will make Region 10, hundred percent, and express their gratitude to everyone who made the event possible.