Covid-19 lockdowns brought blue skies back to China, but don’t expect them to last

China’s air quality has improved dramatically in recent weeks as a result of the widespread city lockdowns and strict travel restrictions introduced to contain the coronavirus epidemic. But experts say the blue skies could rapidly disappear as factories and roads reopen under a government stimulus plan to breathe new life into a stalled economy.According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, between January 20 and April 4 the average concentration of PM2.5 – the tiny particles that pose the biggest risk to health – fell by 18.4 per cent from…

Read More

REC Incorporates Seven SPVs for Developing Transmission Network for Solar Projects

REC Limited, a public infrastructure finance company in India’s power sector, announced that its board of directors had approved a proposal to incorporate seven project-specific special purpose vehicles (SPVs) as wholly-owned subsidiaries of REC Transmission Projects Company Limited (RECTPCL) to develop transmission projects. The RECTPCL is a subsidiary of REC Limited that will be developing the following projects allocated by the Ministry of Power (MoP): Transmission program for solar energy zone in Gadag (2.5 GW), Karnataka – Part ATransmission program for solar energy zone in Bidar (2.5 GW), KarnatakaTransmission system…

Read More

Baluchistan and NA Have-Nots Deprived of Gas by the Haves – Once Again

KARACHI: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Cabinet’s decision has been taken as surprise to shelve all the LPG air mix plants installation which were meant to provide the poor with a clean, environmental friendly, cheap and safe resource of energy besides uplifting of country’s remote area in Balochistan, Northern Areas and AJK.  Baluchistan was first deprived of Sui Gas and now even Synthetic natural gas (SNG) by the vested interest.LPG Air mix plants were planned to be installed in unprivileged areas in Baluchistan and Northern Pakistan, where no on-grid supply…

Read More

WHO Says 70 Vaccines in the Works, With Three Leading Candidates

There are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally, with three candidates already being tested in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, as drugmakers race to find a cure for the deadly pathogen. The furthest along in the clinical process is an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is in phase 2. The other two being tested in humans are treatments developed separately by U.S. drugmakers Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to a WHO document. Chinese Vaccine…

Read More

Coronavirus digging grave for the ailing economy. Efforts of Governor SBP, recent salary package lauded. Interest rate, all taxes and duties should be halved: Mian Zahid Hussain

FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel SVP, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said coronavirus is digging a grave for country’s stressed economy. Giving package to some sectors while at the mercy of the situation is not good policy as all sectors are interlinked that should be bailed out together, he said. Mian Zahid Hussain said that a very serious economic is looming which calls for a proper response otherwise the whole nation will face the consequences. Talking to…

Read More