Infrastructure Development in Pakistan

[DESERT FIGHTER]

driving my cj on KKH would be one hell of an experience..

 

[Muhammad Omar]

this is the proposed design for M1and E35 Interchange at Burhan

just want to share here

BAHRIA TOWN Grand Jamia Masjid

 

[Muhammad Omar]

 

[nomi007]

 

[Edevelop]

Rawalpindi Metro

 

[Sulman Badshah]

this is the proposed design for M1and E35 Interchange at Burhan

Burhan interchange isn't a good designed .... I often feel puzzle through this interchange

 

[Sulman Badshah]

“The deals being signed between China and Pakistan are worth $42 billion. The whole investment is being made by China,” said Amir Zamir, the spokesman for Pakistan’s ministry of planning and development. “There is no loan or aid for the energy projects, but pure investment by the Chinese,” he told AFP.

List of agreements signed
1. Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement
2. Framework agreement for concessional loan
3. Minutes of 3rd JCC of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
4. MoU on outline of Long-Term CPEC Plan
5. MoU on capacity building for development of CPEC
6. Agreement on CPEC energy projects cooperation
7. Loan for cross-border fiber-optic system
8. MoU on surface mine in Thar Coal Field Block-II/ Engro-Thar Power Plant
9. Agreement on Suki-Kinari Hydro Power Project
10. Agreement on Muzaffargarh Coal Power Project
11. MOA on Coal Power Project at Qadarabad
12. UEP Power Project EPC Framework Agreement
13. Quaid-e-Azam Solar Energy Park
14. Implement Agreement on Dawood Wind Farm
15. EPC Agreement on open pit mine in Thar Block I
16. Coal supply contract for power plant in Thar Block I
17. MoU for thermal power assets in Pakistan
18. Agreement on Ruyi-Masood Textile Industrial Park
19. MoU on Coal Power Plant in Port Qasim
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2014.

Source: China and Pakistan sign 19 agreements worth $42 billion

 

[Muhammad Omar]

 

[RAMPAGE]

View attachment 147553

Masha-Allah !!!

Malik Riaz should replace Ahsan Iqbal as Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms.

 

[WaLeEdK2]

View attachment 148346

There is a bullet train in the picture. This may be a silly and noobish question but are they planning on making bullet trains in Pakistan?

 

[Muhammad Omar]

There is a bullet train in the picture. This may be a silly and noobish question but are they planning on making bullet trains in Pakistan?

i heard Islamabad to Muzaffarabad train will be like that but don't think that will happen... it'll be same like the trains which is already running..

 

[nomi007]

 

[Sulman Badshah]

Auto deals: Foreign investors roll in with pakwheels.com

Malaysian fund commits $3.5 million to online portal. PHOTO: PAKWHEELS.COM

LAHORE: Long ago, when entrepreneurs decided to form a company that is going to make its presence felt on the internet, critics would raise eyebrows. Lack of internet penetration or trend to shop or even browse for products online would be huge obstacles.

However, recently the mindset has changed. Entrepreneurs seem to start up their companies on social media, set up a website before launching commercial operations.

And potential investors are aware of that.

In 2003, Muhammad Raza Saeed dared to trend in the then uncertain business of internet companies. He set up an online portal for the auto sector, where users could buy and sell vehicles.

Almost a decade later, the initiative, pakwheels.com, has managed to carve its niche in the Pakistani market.

The business is now serving a variety of purposes, now luring in foreign investors as well.

The portal recently succeeded in raising $3.5 million from Frontier Digital Ventures, a Malaysian based venture capital fund focusing on online classified businesses in the emerging and frontier markets. According to Saeed, this is a reflection of the trust foreign investors show in the Pakistani market. The funding might be pale in comparison to neighboring country India but it is a start.

The story behind the wheels

After 11 years of experience, the management still believes that it is just the beginning and this sector has untapped potential.

Pakwheels.com Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Saeed said there was a long way to go. “Pakistani internet companies are just entering their maturity phase, and the growing mobile subscription will play a major role for us,” said Saeed, a Lahore University of Management Sciences graduate.

Raza said the mobile subscription is likely to be tripled in the coming years, from the current level of 30 million to 100 million in 2019. And this growing subscription is forcing many global internet incubators to look towards the Pakistani market.

The increasing competition among different portals is now forcing Saeed to introduce new trends. Saeed is looking to move ahead with an aggressive marketing strategy.

Along with this the management is working hard to diversify their portal through product enhancement and improvement, adding research reviews, additional content and user reviews.

Due to this, consumers will have access to the content and information of any car available, whether locally manufactured or imported. This will help user decide which car to buy in his or her budget constraints.

“We are planning to increase our user base by expanding our product line and making our portal adhere to global standards,” said Saeed.

“The next four years are extremely important for us, as we have to work hard to give each and every car solution online, to capture maximum share from 100 million mobile subscribers.”

He said that there still remain lots of things to be done for the auto portal due to the nature of the business — one has to shift its strategy quickly to remain the market leader.

The management is looking to expand its presence all over Pakistan. While it has a single office in Lahore, they are now looking to make their presence felt in other cities and establish offices there as well.

 

[Sulman Badshah]

Winter solution: Jul Bujh your geyser at the press of a button

With depleting gas reserves, application could help save energy.

KARACHI:
Necessity is the mother of invention. For those still in doubt, the story of Jul Bujh – a locally developed smartphone application meant to control gas-powered water heaters (geysers) – should offer a good explanation of the need-innovation relationship specified in this English proverb.

Urdu’s equivalent of ‘on-off’, Jul Bujh is an electro-mechanical device controlled by a microprocessor, which itself is programmed through a smartphone application.

The product can convert gas-powered water heaters into eco-friendly gas-saving appliances, say developers. The product, therefore, has the potential to reduce the country’s domestic gas consumption and help consumers save thousands on their gas bills.

Winter, the peak season for domestic gas consumption, has already started and thousands of households might already have turned on their water heaters that have been running on the same technology for over 70 years.

Regardless of one’s need, these appliances would most likely run 24 hours a day for the whole season. This exercise is repeated every year but with a huge cost to the country, which is not producing enough gas to meet the burgeoning demand.

“If you are someone who sets your geyser to hot water for 24 hours a day, you can expect a gas saving of up to 40% [from Jul Bujh] based on your needs,” said Zia Imran, the brain behind the product.

The estimate is based on previous year’s gas prices, which would probably not go up five times, he said, referring to a recent report. Gas tariff for all categories of consumers, including domestic, are likely to be increased by three to five times in a month or so, the report said.

What may offer further explanation for the saving is Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)’s public notice, which says it costs more than Rs7,000 or $70 per month to run a geyser for 10 hours a day.

With depleting gas reserves and rising gas tariffs, the product could at least mitigate what has now become a national problem – and it was only natural for it to come from a bright mind.

A Cornell graduate, Imran has 12 years of experience in Silicon Valley working with the world’s leading technology companies. He has also served as Pakistan Software Export Board Managing Director and Chairman, Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) for IT and IT-enabled services.

The story behind Jul Bujh

Interestingly, it was the need that gave birth to the idea of Jul Bujh. It all started from a newspaper advertisement by SNGPL, which read “turn on the water heater 30 minutes before use and then set it on pilot”. After reading it, Imran thought it wasn’t practical for consumers to follow the instruction.

Geysers are usually placed at the back of the house or in a corner, which is not readily accessible, Imran says. “Who would want to go out at 5 in the morning to turn his geyser on when it is cold?” he said. That was when he thought about a solution.

Explaining the process, he said one can set an on-off schedule for the geyser on his smartphone app, enabling the microprocessor to set the thermostat to the specified dial setting for any particular time slot.

One can turn the geyser thermostat to full, half, one-fourth and pilot according to his own need and turn it off when not needed at all through this app, which is currently supported by Android and iPhone.

The electrical engineer has used all his experience to make sure the product is as easy to use as possible. Besides quick installation, one doesn’t need to have a smartphone to use the product.

“It is easy to find someone in your immediate circle or neighborhood who has a smartphone that can programme your device,” Imran said. “You programme the device once or tweak your programme a couple of times but then let it run for months. So you don’t need to have a smartphone to use this device.”

After successful tests, Imran is currently seeking funds to commercialise the project – they need $200,000, which will be sufficient for a two-year production.

Although Jul Bujh caters to domestic consumers, it can be modified for the industrial sector – the largest consumer of gas in the country.

“We already have enquiries from large factories with hundreds of gas-powered geysers. We are thinking of making an add-on wireless module, which will then mass programme their geysers in a certain area,” Imran said.

 

[Sulman Badshah]

Three Pakistani companies added to small-cap index

Lafarage Cement Pakistan, Murree Brewery and Indus Motors were added to the MSCI Small-cap Index.

KARACHI:
In the latest semi-annual index review for MSCI Equity Indices, the provider of international investment decision support tools has added three Pakistani companies to the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index.

The companies added are Indus Motor Company, Lafarge Pakistan Cement and Murree Brewery. No Pakistani company was deleted from the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index in the review announced by the Geneva-based investment advisory firm on November 6.

Earlier in May, nine companies from Pakistan – Abbott Laboratories, Dawood Hercules, Fauji Cement, Habib Metro Bank, IGI Insurance, National Foods, Packages Limited, Shell Pakistan and Hub Power Company – were added to the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index.

International institutional investors use different MSCI indices – such as frontier, emerging, China and US markets – to create balanced portfolios aimed at generating maximum returns while keeping in view their overall risk appetite.

Meanwhile, no Pakistani company was either added to or deleted from the MSCI Frontier Markets Index in the latest review.

Pakistan’s new weight in the MSCI FM Index is not yet available. According to Topline Securities research analyst Vahaj Ahmed, Pakistan’s weight will cross 7.5% following the successful offering of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) shares.

The government is offering 10% of its stake in OGDC to institutional and general investors that represents 7.5% of the total paid-up capital of the company. This will increase the company’s free-float from 15% to 22.5%.

Four new companies were added to the index six months ago while one company was removed. However, the decision to increase the number of Pakistani companies was mainly because of the reclassification of two major economies – Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – as MSCI emerging markets. Their previous status was of frontier markets.