Month: September 2020

The signing of the contract and the Prime Minister’s visit to the site, is of great satisfaction to me since I have been struggling for hydroelectric development and dams on the Indus  since 1975. What is reprehensible is that its construction could have been started after 1984, when its feasibility had been prepared. There have been several impediments as well as opportunities lost in these 36 years. These will be explained in this article. The West Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority was established in 1958, recognizing that Pakistan had…

For decades, Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth has been touted as the country’s trillion-dollar El Dorado. But while the Afghan government has never been able to monetize mountains of copper, iron ore, gold, and gemstones, the Taliban have—and are ramping up their mining operations as just-started peace talks aim to shape the future of a postwar Afghanistan. In recent years, the Taliban have deliberately moved to secure control over regions of Afghanistan rich in mineral deposits, from lapis lazuli mines in northern Badakhshan to gold, lead, and zinc in Helmand and…

LAHORE: Though Pakistan is operating under the principle of open market economy the consumers at large, however, always remain at the receiving end due to weak regulations and unholy cartels that thrive in such environments. The absence of state writ has given free hands to the price manipulators. Consumer exploitation by the entrenched entrepreneurs has reached a level that rates of most items do not retreat even during extreme recessions in the country when supplies are higher than demand. The principle of supply and demand no longer applies. When demand…

The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has recovered Rs5.66 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.  According to the data available with this scribe, the recoveries from federal government departments stood at Rs5.411 billion while that from provincial and district offices were recorded at Rs243.9 million.  According to break-up figures, the highest recovery during the period under review was made by Lahore director general audit (petroleum and natural resource) that recovered Rs3.757 billion followed by Lahore director general audit (postal & telecommunication)…