Category: Recent Post

ISLAMABAD: In a move towards reviving the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, the government has decided in principle to increase the electricity rates by about Rs1.90 per unit in the current billing month. A formal announcement to this effect is expected to be made over the next couple of days. A federal minister told Dawn that a news conference had been called to explain the rationale behind the tariff increase but was called off at the last minute on the instructions of the Prime Minister Office. The government had called the news…

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Pakistan generates close to 50 million tonnes of solid waste per year, almost 135,000 tonnes per day. Out of this, Karachi alone produces 10% or 13,500 tonnes of solid waste per day. Most Pakistanis, and especially Karachiites, suffer from a lack of solid waste collection, where it is scattered throughout the city. But the sad reality is, even if this waste was collected, landfills are full to capacity and do not have space to store this extra waste. Picking up waste and dumping it far away out of our sight…

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The Senate Standing Committee on Interior was informed that 12 top oil importers had been responsible for creating artificial oil shortage in the country. The panel, which met under the chairmanship of Rehman Malik, at the Parliament House on Thursday, was told that the FIA had identified those involved in the malpractice. The committee was given a detailed briefing by the petroleum secretary and FIA additional director general with reference to the failure of the concerned departments to control corruption and hoarding by the oil marketing companies (OMCs), which had caused…

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The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) on Thursday approved the principles and implementation plan for the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM). During a meeting held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, the Power Division presented the design of CTBCM for consideration and review. The division also apprised the committee of its implementation plan. According to a statement, the Power Division informed the committee that in the first phase, consumers with a load of one megawatt or above would participate in the…

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The whole country went into a power blackout on Sunday night. This is a technical issue requiring serious investigation and a non-political discussion and debate. Blackouts have occurred in many countries in the past including the US, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and India etc. The latest blackout in India was in 2012, on successive days on July 30 and 31, 2012 – affecting 300 million and 700 million people respectively. Overdrawing of electricity by certain Indian states and weak interregional transmission were cited to be the reasons. There are many reasons…

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