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04.10.2008
Unexplored reserves: Balochistan govt can receive Rs 25bn royalties
By Zafar Bhutta ISLAMABAD: The Government has estimated the potential of unexplored oil at 9 billion barrels and gas reserves at 80 trillion cubic feet in Balochistan province, sources in Petroleum Ministry told Daily Times.Sources said that if only 5 percent of the said oil and gas reserves is explored, Balochistan would receive the additional royalty of Rs 25 billion on both oil and gas. The province would have an additional royalty of Rs 11 billion on oil and Rs 14 billion on gas reserves per annum. They said that total oil production in the Balochistan province stood at 22 million barrels that is contributing to 18 percent of the total requirement of oil in Pakistan. They said that Baloc... details >>
22.09.2008
Gwadar waiting for second shipment
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
Balochistan has requested the federal government to import wheat through Gwadar Port, which is yet to become commercially operational.The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is being persuaded by the federal government to import wheat through Gwadar Port. If TCP imports wheat through Gwadar, it would be the second shipment at the new port this year.TCP however does not consider it economical to import wheat via Gwadar where handling and transportation charges cost more to the corporation as compared to Port Qasim and Karachi Port.Offloading of ships at the Gwadar Port can generate trucking and employment opportunities for local labour. Gwadar can also provide an a... details >>
20.09.2008
Hub attacks pushing away companies from Balochistan
Saturday, September 20, 2008By M Farhan Zaheer
KARACHI: Recent incidents of violence in and around the Hub Industrial Area and the RCD Highway which connects this Balochistan town to Karachi has forced investors to rethink expansion plans and also to take unprecedented steps to protect their employees, a survey by The News has learnt.In all this, the governments of both Balochistan and Sindh have remained unhelpful to the investor companies and it is feared that their scaling down of business would affect hundreds of jobs and thousands of livelihoods connected to this industrial area. An official of a company, when asked by The News, said that there is fear amongst those multinationals who ... details >>
08.09.2008
Reviving Reko Diq copper mining project
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
The Reko Diq copper project in district Chagai, Baloch-istan is expected to commence production in next four years. Feasibility study of the project will be completed by next May.The project is jointly sponsored by Chile’s Antofagasta with stakes of 37.5 per cent, Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp with 37.5 per cent, and the government of Balochistan with 25 per cent. It involves an initial investment of $1.5 billion.There are an estimated two billion tons of copper deposits in the district. An output of some 150,000 tons of copper per year is targeted. The capacity may eventually be raised up to 220,000 tons per day, with an investment of some $5 billion”, according ... details >>
04.09.2008
SBP offers relief package to Balochistan
KARACHI, Sept 3: The State Bank of Pakistan has offered relief package to the Balochistan government by putting its overdraft with the SBP into a blocked account.SBP Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar expressed her resolve to mitigate the financial difficulties of the Balochistan government by offering a financial relief package.The financial package was offered by Dr Akhtar during a recent meeting with Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani.The package aims at providing a breathing space to Balochistan government by putting its overdraft with the SBP into a blocked account which would be brought to zero within a period of six years by deductions of suitable monthly installments... details >>
04.09.2008
Food dept Clueless about 450,000 bags: Wheat for Balochistan
By Tariq Saeed Birmani
DERA GHAZI KHAN, Sept 3: The Punjab Food department high-ups, despite making hectic efforts for nine days failed to trace more then 0.4 million missing wheat bags, out of the 0.9 million sent to Balochistan.A couple of weeks back, the Punjab government was informed by Balochistan authorities that they had received only 450,000 wheat bags out of the 900,000 it purchased from the province.To probe the matter, Punjab Food Director Waseem Mukhtar has been interrogating the concerned staff of Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Rahim Yar Khan for the last nine days at the local circuit house, but to no avail.Official sources claimed the record of the wheat consignments issued to Bal... details >>
02.09.2008
‘SBP to convert Balochistan overdraft into soft loan’
QUETTA: The overdraft of the Balochistan government will be converted into a soft loan, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar said on Monday. Efforts will be made to grant maximum relaxation to the Balochistan government for the payment of its loans, she said at a meeting, held to discuss the strategy for converting the overdraft into a soft loan. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani presided over the meeting, while Balochistan senior minister Abdul Wasay, Finance Minister Asim Kurd Gailu, Finance Secretary Mehfooz Ali Khan and Additional Chief Secretary Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri also attended. The participants of the meeting reviewed the financial constraints,... details >>
27.08.2008
Balochistan demands share in IPI transit fee
ISLAMABAD: Balochistan has demanded a share in the transit fee for the part of the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline to be laid in the province, sources in the Petroleum Ministry told Daily Times on Tuesday. The demand was made during a top-level meeting on August 18. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani chaired the meeting. Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Aslam Kurd, Balochistan Chief Secretary Nasir Muhammad Khosa, and acting secretary GA Sabri represented the province. Of the 900-kilometre pipeline to be laid in Pakistan, 787 kilometres would be laid in Balochistan (and the rest in Sindh), provincial representatives said, and Balochistan’s share in the transit fee... details >>
25.08.2008
Gwadar Port without significant operations
KARACHI - The Standing Committee on Research and Development of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Saturday expressed concern over the under-development of Gwadar Port area.
According to fact-finding report prepared by the FPCCI Standing Committee on R&D, Gwadar Port, said the Port presently was without any significant operations and was also lacking the required infrastructural facilities to make it functional.
Nearly 750-kilometre coastal road from Karachi to Jiwani near the Iranian border has been in operation for some time. A 200-kilometer branch road that would link the coastal road to the Indus Highway at Ratto-Dero is still not developed.
Tanvir A ... details >>
10.08.2008
Violence affects ship-breaking in Balochistan
By Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana
KARACHI, Aug 9: The deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan has adversely affected ship-breaking activity at Gadani, where the number of ships brought for scrapping during last three months plummeted to four. Currently, only one ship is being scrapped.The situation turned ugly when Pakistan Ship Breakers Association (PSBA) chairman Azam Malik was assassinated at Hub on May 21 this year on his way back home from his ship-breaking yard at Gadani.This panicked investors, who on an average import four vessels a month from around the world for scrapping purposes. Last year, Gadani ship- breaking industry scrapped about 44 vessels with a total 188,242 light d... details >>
28.07.2008
Coal mining in Balochistan
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
In his budget speech last month, Balochistan’s Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd said the provincial income from mining had increased from Rs100 million to Rs500 million over last financial year on the back of current production of more than two million tons.The province possesses huge reserves of coal at Hamai, Degari, Mach, Ziarat, Chamalang and Abegum estimated at 217 million tons. The 60 km-long Chamalang coal mines contain coal ranging from high volatile C bituminous to high volatile A bituminous with a total reserve of six million tons.“Nearly 200-250 trucks of coal leave daily for different parts of the country from Chamalang mines. Coal is being sold... details >>
08.07.2008
Government to acquire more land for Gwadar port
* Senate body concerned over slow pace of work * Questions land allotment to housing societies despite cabinet’s decision to halt such allotments * Told that port will be connected to Iran via road network by DecemberBy Irfan GhauriISLAMABAD: The federal government needs more land to construct facilities for the Gwadar port project, Senate Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping Chairman Senator Gulshan Saeed said on Monday.Presiding over a meeting of the committee, Gulshan said the government would negotiate with the Balochistan government and private landowners of the area to acquire land.The committee expressed its concerns over the slow pace of work on the Gwadar port project and the un... details >>
02.07.2008
Sindh urged to release Balochistan’s water
By Saleem Shahid
QUETTA, July 1: Members of the Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday called upon the Sindh government to release the province’s share of water from Indus.The assembly asked Minister for Irrigation Sardar Aslam Bizenjo to take up the matter with the Sindh government because districts irrigated by Pat Feeder and Khirthar canals were facing an acute shortage of water.Speaker Aslam Bhootani presided over the session.Mir Zahoor Khoso, who raised the issue of water shortage in Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts on an adjournment motion, said that rice sowing had been severely affected.Ministers Sadiq Umrani and Rustam Jamali expressed concern over the attitude of the Sindh irrigation... details >>
30.06.2008
Balochistan on foreign investors’ radar screen
By Sabihuddin Ghausi
As the world prices of all minerals, metals, industrial raw materials and commodities go on rising, Balochistan has emerged as a bright spot on the international investors’ radar screen. ‘’We are not poor but the richest province in terms of resources,’’ a beaming Mehfooz Ali Khan, the provincial finance secretary, told a post- budget conference on June 22.“The provincial government should have its own petroleum and gas policy with a high level technical board to manage this area (mineral exploitation and investment) of vital interest’’, he said.“The price of chrome from local mine in Muslim Bagh was Rs3,500 a ton in 1998. It is now quoted at Rs38,000 a ton’’, Ghulam S... details >>
30.06.2008
Non-functional Gwadar Port
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
The federal budget 2008-09 has earmarked Rs1 billion for setting up of Gwadar’s Export Processing Zone (EPZ) and Rs750 million for construction of new Gwadar international airport.In his budget speech, Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd also vowed to take all possible steps for developing the port city. He said: “work on 350-bedded hospital and sports complex on a 300- acre plot is in progress”. The provincial government has allocated Rs10.2 million for the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA).The port has been built but it has not seen any significant related development on infrastructure and it is still without roads and rail links with the rest of the count... details >>
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