Year: 2021

Ehsaas averted catastrophe during pandemic: report

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ISLAMABAD: A report released by an international organisation based in Brazil has found that Pakistan’s innovative emergency cash programme (Ehsaas) helped avert an economic catastrophe during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report, “What’s next for social protection in light of Covid-19: country responses” released by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), focuses on experiences from countries in Asia, including Pakistan, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Latin America and the Caribbean. The deep dive into social protection responses to the Covid-19 crisis highlights Pakistan’s effort…

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New policy to extend incentives for setting up refineries

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ISLAMABAD: The government has finalised a new policy for petroleum refining under which an incentive package will be extended for setting up of deep conversion refineries. The package will provide a 20-year tax holiday and up to nine-year cascading customs duty reduction in pricing provided the investors sign construction agreements before Dec 31, 2021. The policy framework has been finalised in consultation with the local refining industry. The new policy is set to be presented to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet shortly for approval. All new deep…

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Deadlines set for Karachi mega transport projects

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Monday set deadlines to put into operation two mega transport projects in Karachi — the Rs300 billion Karachi Circular Railway and Rs25bn Green Line Bus Rapid Transport — later this year. The ministry in a statement said that the deadline for signing of first package (A) of the Integrated Transport System (ITS) contract has been set as March 26, followed by package B contract signing on April 2. The deadline for award of operational and maintenance contract for the project…

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Spanish firm pioneers bladeless wind turbines

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Created by startup Vortex Bladeless, the 3m-high cylindrical turbines are designed to oscillate within the wind range, generating electricity from the vibration. The bladeless design recently won the approval of Norway’s state energy company Equinor, which named Vortex on a list of the 10 most exciting startups in the energy sector. It will also offer the firm development support through its tech accelerator programme. Vortex Bladeless inventor David Yáñez told The Guardian that the firm is “not against traditional windfarms” but its technology “has different characteristics which can help to fill the gaps…

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Arbitration Agreement

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ISLAMABAD: The government and Karachi Electric (KE) are said to have narrowed down differences on Terms of Reference (ToRs) on Arbitration Agreement (AA) but there is a bumpy road ahead as influential “spoilers” are making last ditch effort to create confusion at the top level, well informed sources told Business Recorder. “We are making our best effort to sort out differences. Consensus has evolved on most of the issues but a couple of matters still require an agreement between the parties,” the sources added. The legal counsels of both sides…

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