Month: May 2021

The biggest oil-exporting region in the world, the Middle East, has set its sights on becoming a major clean energy exporter of green hydrogen. The largest oil producers in the Arab Gulf have jumped on the hydrogen bandwagon — especially its so-called green variety produced from water electrolysis using electricity from solar or wind — as it gains momentum with governments and the world’s largest international oil companies. Hydrogen is expected to play a prominent role in lowering carbon emissions from energy-intensive industries. And the Middle East doesn’t want to…

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About 90 per cent work on the under-construction Koto hydropower project (Koto-HPP) has been done and it will be completed by December this year, said assistant project director while briefing a team of the district administration. The team, including deputy commissioner Aun Haider Gondal, Timergara assistant commissioner Tahir Ali and other officials, visited the project site here the other day. Giving details, Koto-HPP assistant director Mohammad Shuaib said the powerhouse would generate 40.8MW of electricity that would be added to the national grid. He said that the remaining 10 per…

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The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday registered a case against two former chairmen of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), a former acting CEO, and arrested a former director of the national airline on charges of causing losses of over Rs1 billion to the exchequer. FIA Sindh Director Amir Farooqi told Dawn the investigative body had registered a case against PIA ex-chairmen Nasser Jaffer and Irfan Elahi and former acting CEO Bernd Hildenbrand and also detained former director engineering Maqsood Ahmed. “They caused loss of Rs1.25bn and made advance payments for…

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 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Pakistan on Friday signed a $300 million loan agreement to finance the construction of a 300-megawatt hydropower plant in Balakot, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The ADB Acting Country Director, Cleo Kawawaki, and Ministry of Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed signed the loan agreement for the project, which was approved by the ADB on March 30, 2021. Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan, Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, and ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov, witnessed the ceremony. Total…

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To boost tourism, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday issued TPRI (Tourism Promotion and Regional Integration) license to a newly launched private airline named North Air. As per details, the privately launched new airline is planned to operate flights for Gilgit, Skardu, Chitral and Gwadar. Initially, the airline will operate flights between Islamabad-Gilgit, Islamabad-Skardu, Islamabad-Chitral and Islamabad-Gwadar. The head office of the private airline was established at New Islamabad Airport. Recently, the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had commenced direct flights from Lahore to northern areas. The PIA…

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