Updates Regarding Business!
Twenty-nine more deaths due to Coronavirus and 955 positive cases of the infection have been reported in the country during the last twenty-four hours.
According to the statistics issued by National Command and Operation Centre, 45,557 tests were conducted yesterday while positivity ratio remained two point fourteen percent.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain says government is taking steps for the development and prosperity of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Barrister Sultan Mahmood in Islamabad today (Saturday), he said steps are also being taken for promotion of tourism in the region.
The Minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan is taking special interest in the development of Azad Kashmir and the welfare of the people of the region.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Mirpur-Mangla road is about to complete which will resolve the travelling issue of the area.
He said plans to link the two-lane road from Lilla to Jhelum with Azad Kashmir via Mangla are also under consideration, which will usher in a new era of communication with Kashmir.
The project will limit the journey from Kashmir to Islamabad to one hour and will also boost tourism activities in the area.
The Minister said voice of Kashmiri people will be heard all over the world by launching regular PTV broadcasts in Azad Kashmir.
Source: Radio Pakistan
The action against unvaccinated people across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is continuing.
In Peshawar, the teams of the health department vaccinated twenty-two commuters on spot at various terminals of Bus Rapid Transit.
In Mardan, the teams of district administration arrested seventeen shopkeepers for non-vaccination and sealed eighteen shops.
In Charsadda and Nowshera districts, several shopkeepers were also arrested besides sealing fifteen shops due to violation of Covid.
Source: Radio Pakistan
The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has approved the summary submitted by the Power Division, seeking restructuring of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) with a changed nomenclature, i.e., Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC). The restructuring plan will be implemented by 31 December 2021.
The CCoE meeting was held in Islamabad, with Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar, in the chair, on Friday.
The CCoE discussed the summary and approved the proposals of the Power Division.
The major proposals included:
A change of the nomenclature of PEPCO to PPMC
Human resource functions to be delegated to respective companies
The restructured company will continue to charge a fee to DISCOs, GENCOs, and NTDC
The company will approach Development Finance Institutions and Multi-lateral Agencies to solicit support for capacity building
The composition of the Board of Directors of the company will be changed and the restructuring plan will be implemented by 31 December 2021
The new human resource will be hired for the company forthwith
The CCoE also approved the summary of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on a report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Establishment of New Terminals. The CCoE discussed the report in detail and approved the allocation of pipeline capacity. The Chair directed the authorities concerned to expedite the work on setting up new LNG terminals.
The CCoE also discussed the summary submitted by the Power Division on policy direction for the operation of RLNG plants out of merit. The Minister of Energy will have a meeting with OGRA (Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority) and NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) on the operational problems arising due to the import of RLNG. The solutions and the proposed way forward will be shared in the next CCoE meeting.
The CCoE reviewed the Circular Debt Report of August 2021 submitted by the Power Division, while appreciating the fact that the increase in circular debt during the last 12 months was only Rs. 57 billion, which showed a sharp reduction in comparison to Rs. 450 billion per year in the previous government tenure.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Finance, Minister of Energy, Minister for Maritime Affairs, Advisor to PM on Commerce & Industries, Special Assistant to PM on CPEC, and representatives of regulatory authorities and senior officials of Ministries/Divisions.
Source: Pro Pakistani
Amidst the unabated overall price hike spree, the power tariff has taken yet another jump, as the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved Rs. 1.95 per unit price of electricity.
NEPRA has issued a notification to this effect. The increase in electricity price is in line with the fuel price adjustment seen in the month of August. NEPRA held a hearing in this regard on 30 September, whereafter the author withheld the decision.
The NEPRA decision will impose an additional burden of Rs. 30.40 billion on power consumers. The power distribution companies will charge this fuel cost adjustment (FCA) in their October bills. The NEPRA decision to increase in reference fuel price will not be applicable to lifeline customers (using up to 50 units). It will also not apply to K-Electric customers.
Vice-Chairman NEPRA, Rafiq Ahmed Sheikh, wrote a dissenting note on the decision of monthly fuel price adjustment under the Authority’s notification that the National Power Control Center (NPCC) had failed to send daily reports of Merit Order violations to NEPRA. The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had identified 166 violations of the Merit Order, while the violations of Merit Order and the weakness of the system caused financial loss of Rs. 1.87 billion. The failure of the power transmission system is the incompetence of the National Transmission & Dispatch Company.
Rafiq Ahmed Sheikh asked, “Why do consumers suffer due to non-compliance with the power transmission system and merit order?”. He said, “Putting a burden of Rs. 1.87 billion on the people in the monthly fuel cost is a total injustice.”
The Vice-Chairman NEPRA deplored that CPPA failed to provide details of financial losses. “CPPA also did not say why high-efficiency power plants were not operated and why the low-efficiency power plants were operated for electricity generation,” he said, adding that it would be an exaggeration to impose the burden of mismanagement on the people by not supplying the exported LNG to the power plants.
He maintained, “It is also not appropriate for NEPRA to pass on this increase to the public without an audit of the previous period adjustment.” He opined that there was also an objection to taking power from the power plants with which power purchase agreements had been changed without the approval of NEPRA.
Source: Pro Pakistani
SBP Launches a Dedicated Website for Housing and Construction Finance