ARFAH KARIM SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PARK

*29-04-2012: CM inaugurated first e-governance exhibition at the park which will continue for two days. Forty two software projects were presented at the exhibition related to government departments on the first day. Among them were FIR lodging at model police stations, centralized blood bank system and dengue tracking system.

*28-04-2012: CM inaugurated website Car For You at the park. The website provides information about driving, road safety, license and buying and selling of cars.

*Named after world’s youngest MCSE who has died very young.

*Govt of Punjab intends to set up first technical university in it in collaboration with Turkish Middle East technical university.

*Situated at Ferozepur road near Itefaq hospital.

*Country’s biggest IT unverity’s temporary campus will be at the Arfah Karim Software Park, it will be shited to its permanent campus at Ring road.

*Chairman Punjab information technology board is Dr. Umar Saif.

PTI

*09-05-2012: Balouch brothery of Venice has joined Tehreek-e Insaf: Brothery leader Mushtaq Baluch.
*07-0502012: Son of SM Zafar, Asim Zafar has joined PTI and it will formally be announced tomorrow.
*06-05-2012: Imran Khan has announced that PTI will hold a big Jalsa at Rawalpindi on 27th May.
*03-05-2012: The party will not make any electoral alliance with any other party, Punjab president Ahsan Rashid said at the central media cell at the Cavalry Ground. President women wing Punjab Saloni Bhkhari was also president on the occasion.
*01-05-2012: PTI will hold save judiciary rally on 6^th May: Imran Khan.

*28-04-2012: Imran Khan visited the camp of missing persons at Islamabad
*27-04-2012: Ex MPA PMLQ Shaheena Asad joined PTI.
*27-04-2012: Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has been appointed as senior advisor on foreign affairs.

*Chairman Pakistan: Imran Khan.

*Vice chairman: Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

*President Punjab: Ahsan Rashid.

*President Pakistan: Mukhdoom Javed Hashmi.
*Senior Vice President: Ishaq khan.
*Central Secretary information: Shafqat Mehmood.

*President Lahore: Main Mehmood-ur Rashid.

*senior vice president Lahore: Malik Zaheer Khokhar.

*Deputy Secretary information Lahore: Malik Ishtiaq.

*Youth wing central president: Ibrar-ul-Haq.
*Central media cell is at Cavalry Ground.

*Party’s one office is situated at Jail road and Punjab secretariat at Faisal Town.
*Secretary information Lahore: Mehmood Gillani.

PUNJAB AGRICULTURE AND MEAT COMPANY

*A company owned by Govt of Punjab .
*Chairman of the company is CM Punjab.

*Run by a CEO through board of directors.

* Constructed Lahore Meat Complex Shahpur Kanjaran ,latest slaughter house.

*CEO Dr. Hamid Jalil resigned on 21^st April,2012 after CM showed displeasure over his performance/corruption charges. Charge is now assumed by secretary livestock.

*3.5 million animals per annum are planned to be slaughtered in the latest slaughter house and a big portion may be exported as Halal meat as its market is very huge and untapped. This will earn valuable foreign exchange for the country besides providing earning opportunities for rural folk.

*Punjab government also plans to set up a meat technology institute in collaboration with University of veterinary and animal sciences.

*26-04-2012: Govt of Punjab has decided to separate Meat company and PAMCO today.

*Bakar Mandi at Shahpur Kanjaran to TMA Iqbal Town will not be shifted as local government contract rules do not allow, DCO said.
*Registered beef butchers will get concession of 25% in slaughtering fee. Their fee will be Rs. 375 and for non-registered and out of city butchers it will be Rs.500 per animal.
*As per master plan land measuring around 716 kanals was tranferred to the company, meat complex was built on 280 kanals while remaining land measuring 438 kanals is lying vacant.

  

LAHORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

*LDA in short. 

*Main office at Egerton road.
*Chairman: Noor-ul Amin Mengal who is also DCO Lahore.

*DG : Ahad Cheema.
*Vice chairman: Aamir Asghar Dar.
*Additional DG Housing: Irfan Bhatti.
*Director town planning: Muhammad Faheem Choudry.
*Director Finance : Zaheer.
*Assistant director research: Rana Shahid Irshad.

*Operating under LDA act 1975.

*LDA complex ,6 storey building at Court street is rented to Housing department on Rs. 35 per square foot .LDA vacated it during tenure of ex chief secretary Javed Mehmood.
*Website:  http://www.lda.gop.pk  

*24-04-2012: 320 files from LDA office lost. Investigation underway. Some of the files related to Avenue one,Johar Town and Sabzazar.
*26-04-2012:  It has set up a special counter at one window cell at its Johar Town office where people can get all the information about unregistered/illegal schemes to avoid fraud and other problems.Officials of Metropolitan planning wing will provide information about any plot of private schemes also to prevent frauds in sale and purchase of these plots.
*26-04-2012: NTS has declared results of the exams for jobs in LDA of sub-engineers, stenographers, assistants and data entry operators today. The result can be seen on website of NTS.
*The authority intends to hold auction of two restaurants and 54 shops at Park and Ride Plaza Liberty.
*07-05-2012: Building control of 5 towns have been reduced especially 80% control of Nishtar and Iqbal Towns has been transferred to LDA.
*Lahore development authority Community center is at New Muslim Town.
*15-05-2012:  102 housing scheme have been declared illegal by the Authority.

MIANI SAHIB

*The biggest graveyard of the city.

*The biggest graveyard of the country after Thatta.

*Consist of 1264 kanals and divided into eight sections.

*Janazghah, funeral prayer ground is situated on Lytton road.

*Situated between Chouburgi, Samanabad and Mozag.

*Named after after a wali Hazarat Tahir Bandagi. This land was gifted to him and he became to be known as Miani Sahib and he devoted it for graveyard.

*A village named Miani was at this site during Mughal era.

*Came in being in the reign of Shahab ud din Ghouri.

*Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed id buried here.

*There are several graves soldiers of Ahmed Shah Abdali.

*Grave of brave Major Hafiz Atiq Ahmed, go martyred in operation Rah-e-Rast, Swat.
*Grave of Sheed-e-Awal of Pakistan movement.Quaid-e-Azam once visited his grave and offered prayers.
*Grave of great urdu poet Saghar Siddiqui.

*Fee structure:

Registeration fee,   

Kacha khata Rs. 100,                    Paka khata Rs. 1000 .

Dome fee Rs. 100,000

Fee permanent cemented grave  Rs.  20,000  , 2*3*6

Fee concrete roof flat that can be lifted  Rs. 25,000  , 7*4

Fee fibre/tin roof  Rs. 20,000  , 7*4

Undertaker fee, kacha khata Rs.  1500 , Paka khata Rs. 4500

Grave maintainance fee , Rs. 3000

Fee Mud-brick grave Rs. 1000

Graveyard wall repair fee Rs. 1000
*Funds of Rs. 100 million at hands but not being utilized to overcome problems at the graveyard. Commissioner Lahore showed his resentment at the management.
*Grave of brave soldier Maj Shabir Sharif (Nishan e Haider) is also at the graveyard.

Qadirpur gas field

 As a result of installation of compressors at Qadirpur gas field , the production  has been increased by around 100 mmcfd and the production has now reached 550 mmcfd. 

The production increase clearly indicates the compressors are upto the mark. The project was undertaken strictly in accordance with OGDCL Procurement Rules and Policy.

The performance test of the compressors was to be carried out in March 2011, but due to acute energy crisis was postponed to June  and subsequently it was carried out in September . The test has been successfully carried out and major concerns have been addressed. The correspondent has relied on an initial/interim report, the findings/recommendations of which are being implemented. 

As regards to the award of contract, it is clarified that a study for reservoir assessment was carried, which was based on reservoir productivity which declared the reservoir would start normal depletion from the year 2008. As per their recommendation, some new wells were to be added and compression facilities should be installed. 

OGDC started its working to pre-qualify a consultant. ILF of Germany was awarded the job of consultancy and project management and site supervision contract and after data input and validation of the data, the same was conveyed to 27 world renowned companies. Accordingly CPECC of China were adjudged to be the financially lowest evaluated bidder. The contract was awarded to CPECC for detail engineering, procurement, installation, erection alongwith commissioning at a total cost of $144 millions.

The current addition of gas from Qadirpur gas field will help alleviate energy crisis but to a very low level. 

GDP of the world

2012:   

World's  growth is slowly improving as recovery in the United States gains some strength and dangers from Europe recede, but risks remain elevated and the gains are very fragile, the IMF said on Tuesday.

Another flare-up of the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis or sharp escalation in oil prices on geopolitical uncertainty especially Iranian nuclear issue could easily undermine confidence and disrupt the improving growth path for world economy, the IMF stated.

"With the passing of the crisis and some good news about the US economy, some optimism has returned. It should remain tempered," said Oliver Blanchard, the IMF's chief economist, in the latest World Economic Outlook.

"Even absent another European crisis, most advanced economies still face major brakes on growth. And the risk of another crisis is still very much present and could well affect both advanced and emerging economies," he further added.

The global economy is on track to expand this year by 3.50% and by 4.10% in the year 2013, up slightly from 3.30 and 3.9 percent GDP output respectively that the IMF had forecast in January,this year, when market concern was rampant that Greece could default and Italy and Spain were facing budget crises.

World's GDP currently stands at $ 67 trillions.

GDP growth rate of China

China said on Friday its GDP grew by 8.1% in the first quarter, 2012, its slowest pace in nearly three years, as domestic demand fell and Europe's woes curbed business activity considerably.

Gross domestic product grew by its slowest pace since the second quarter of the year 2009 in the three months to the end of March,2012 , the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The figure marked the fifth consecutive quarterly slowdown for the world's second-largest economy, and NBS spokesman told that there was now "enormous" pressure on exports.

"The global situation in the first quarter is complex the pressure on exports growth is enormous," he told the media.

Output from China's millions of factories and workshops rose 11.61 percent in the first three months of this year, compared with growth of 15.70 percent a year earlier.

The figure is likely to fuel concerns about China's vast manufacturing sector, which has been badly hurt by falling demand for Chinese products in crisis-hit Europe, the country's main importer.

China's annual growth slowed to 9.20 percent last year from 10.41 percent in 2010, as turbulence in Europe and the United States hit the biggest export-driven economy  of the world.

Ali Musa Gillani

Ephedrine drug quota case:

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued a notice to the Prime Minister’s very beloved son, Syed Ali Musa Gilani in the chemical quota allotment case(accused in import of “Poor Man's Cocaine” ). A three member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case.

During proceedings in the court, the ANF comprising of Brigadier Faheem investigating the case were presented before the court. The counsel for Brgadier Faheem informed the court that the ANF team that was working on the case had been changed.

The CJ inquired as to why this had happened and remarked that maybe the reason was the involvement of some prominent person and further investigation was required.

Brigadier Faheem informed the court that the chemical quota was allotted by former health secretary Khusnod Lashari . The ANF has issued summons for Lashari and Ali Musa Gilani, and on the request of Lashari the ANF met him at the PM House.

Brigadier Faheem further informed the court that Ali Musa Gilani’s father PM Gillani was upset over the notice and the law secretary along with entire state machinery were trying to save Khusnod Lashari and Ali Musa Gilani in this case.

The court ordered Ali Musa Gilani and Khusnod Lashari to record their statements in ANF and the investigation team be reinstated. The hearing of the case will resume on April 20,2012.

It is pertinent to mention here  that the case regarding the illegal sale of a drug, ephedrine was registered on October 10,2011, after two pharmaceutical companies -- Danas Pharmaceutical Limited and Berlex Lab International --were accused of obtaining import quotas for the drug in collusion with the federal health ministry officials that exceeded the limits fixed by the Narcotics Control Board. The NCB had fixed an annual quota of 22,000kg of ephedrine for Pakistan for 2010-11, but the Ministry of Health following its devolution allocated a quota of around 31,000kg of the drug. 
Musa Gillani has fled the country.

People of Pakistan should look at these cheap politicians that they are now selling heroin in the country and destroying the future of many youth, our beloved talented and loving youth. A lot of families will be destroyed and agonized by these cheap people those who go to any extent to earn money. It is worst kind of corruption. I  request the people to stand with Supreme Court and give it strength to fight against these bastards who want to destroy everything in this country for their selfish means.

Earthquake resistant table

Two Israeli researchers Brutto and Bruno have designed a table that can withstand falling debris in  an earthquake. It could be particularly valuable in schools, especially those built near geological fault lines or in developing countries, where many buildings are poorly constructed.

People are often advised to crawl under a table if they can’t get outside during an earthquake but the designers said this could not be helpful because ordinary furniture normally collapses under heavy debris.

The ‘earthquake-proof’ or earthquake- resistant table, for which a patent is pending, is designed to remain upright under the debris expected when a single-storey building collapses, told Bruno, the lead designer.

The maximum expected weight of a falling ceiling is 350 kilogrammes, but the table could withstand up to a tonne, he told SciDev.Net.

Tables could even be arranged to provide passageways for rescue teams to move around a collapsed building when looking for survivors, he further added.

“We have made a great effort to create a table that will be light enough for two children to lift and cheap enough for most schools to purchase,” researcher Bruno said. “The cost of the table is approximately 2.5 times that of a standard school table, but it is of high quality so it will last about twice as long.”

Coal production in China

Peoples Republic of China's coal output increased 5.80 percent from a year earlier to 839 million tonnes in the first quarter of this year 2012, the official People's Daily reported on Monday, revealed by Wang Xianzheng, head of the China Coal Industry Association.

National coal inventories stood at 224 million tonnes at 31st March,2012, the newspaper report said.

Coal stocks in major power plants were 76.7 million tonnes at the end of last month, enough for 19 days' power generation, the report further added.

Afghan opium trade

Some facts.
Afghanistan supplies about 90% of the world’s opium , from which deadly heroin is made.
The poppy economy in Afghanistan, which provides an income for insurgent Talibans , grew significantly in the year 2011 with soaring prices and expanded cultivation,  a UN report revealed.
In 2011, the farm-gate value of opium production more than doubled from the year previously to $1.4 billion and now accounts for 15% of the economy of Afghanistan, the UNODC said.
Kandahar is of one of Afghanistan’s top poppy producing provinces.
A lot of people were buying the opium and the cannabis as a kind of gold standard, as a kind of security fearing conflict in the wake of withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014.

Circular debt in Pakistan

As on March, 2012 circular debt stands on Rs. 400 billion.


Circular debt is accumulated because consumers of electricity are paying less for every unit but the supplier PEPCO has to pay higher price to the power generation companies. This gap is filled by subsidy given by the government of Pakistan which has very weak financial health. This gap creates cash flow problems for Pepco because it receives less cash than it has to pay to generation companies and its constantly increases which results in further circular debt. Therefore govt has to increase the price of electricity to pass on its burden because it can not itself sustain this huge cost due to lack of resources because it is incompetent and negligent to collect taxes to increase its financial health .
The reason behind this problem is that we are producing electricity from thermal sources not much from hydel. Thermal is very very costly than hydel. Therefore govt increases price that causes inflation. This problem was sown when Benazir started IPPs to get kickbacks and commissions when we did not need electricity. She did not start to build a dam for cheaper energy for future needs because PPP people could not get bribes from that. We started to buy that costly power which we did not need at that time and tried to export it to India. If she had started a big dam it would have also provided a lot of water for irrigation and our   rural people and country as a whole would have been a lot prosperous. Furthermore it would have saved people of Pakistan from devastating floods and happen again and again besides generating cheap electricity.

Sindh Engro Coal mining company

The financial close of $ 3 billion Sindh Engro Coal project can be delayed if the govt could not resolve worsening circular debt issue or timely complete laying of transmission line.

CEO of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and Engro Fertilizer Ltd (EFL), Mr. Khalid Mansoor told this while addressing a press conference here Friday.

The project is a joint venture between Sindh Provincial Govt and Engro Powergen Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Engro Corporation Ltd. with 40% and 60% stake respectively.

He said the government also needs to ensure uninterrupted gas supply to the newly commissioned fertilizer project ENVEN worth $ 1.10 billion to improve financial position of Engro Corporation, the holding company of EFL and SECMC.

He said that the financiers of the coal project would like to see that all these issues are resolved before they okey the financing for the coal project.

He said that circular debt has reached Rs 400 billion in March ,2012 and this might create doubts in the minds of the financiers about their forthcoming investment in Thar coal project.

He, however, made it clear that SECMC is technically, environmentally, financially and socially viable project being undertaken. The lignite quality of Thar coal is one of the best in the world with several other advantages as well, including a 33 meters cumulative lignite seam thickness and minimum sulphur percentage (1.10 %), he further added.

Responding to a question, he said that Central Development Working Party has already accorded approval to the transmission line project two weeks ago and now ECNEC is to give approval to the project.

He further added the entire project is to be financed by Chinese investors which are also the executors of SECMC. They are large companies, all in coal mining, construction, power generation, etc.

Mansoor said that the commissioning of this project will reduce Pakistan's energy bill by about $ 1 billion and benefit electricity consumers by about $ 400 million.

"The development of Block II alone would bring an investment of $ 12 billion. This includes mining, power generation and briquetting of coal.

To a question, he said that the only solution to the current energy crisis, is the use of coal in power units of WAPDA which are closed due to non-availability of furnace oil which is imported and very costly. "We have offered the government of Pakistan to let us convert the Jamshoro power plant to coal. We had been qualified for bidding for the project which will require an investment of $ 400 million", Mansoor added.