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Infrastructure Development in Pakistan

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Plant of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) at Nashpa, Karak. KPK on 8 March 2018.


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Khalifa Coastal Oil Refinery project

ISLAMABAD: Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) is in the process of preparing a comprehensive feasibility study on the Khalifa Coastal Oil Refinery project, which has remained in doldrums due to paucity of funds after approval in 2007.

According to sources, the company is working on a feasibility study that will be conducted at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion.

It is implementing the project at Khalifa Point, near Hub, Balochistan, which will be a state-of-the-art refinery having production capacity of 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (11 to 14 million tons per annum).

Annual consumption of petroleum products in the country is around 24 million tons, of which only 15% is met through domestically produced crude oil while the rest is imported in the shape of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Locally produced and imported crude is refined by six major and two small refineries in the country.

Byco Oil Pakistan Limited installed an oil refinery in Hub at a cost of $400 million in 2015 with refining capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, equivalent to 5 million tons per annum.

Byco has also installed Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facility for the transportation of crude oil from ships to storage tanks.

Total Parco Pakistan Limited acquired Chevron Pakistan and with 765 petrol pumps it has become almost equivalent to the size of Shell Pakistan.
 
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PC owners to build new hotel chain along CPEC route


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PC hotel in Karachi. PHOTO: PC OFFICIAL

LAHORE: The Hashoo Group, Pakistan’s biggest hospitality brand, is looking to launch another hotel chain called ‘Hotel Two’ across Pakistan to upgrade the group’s profile, said a high-ranking official.

The group currently owns and operates several hotel chains across Pakistan including its flagship Pearl Continental (PC). ‘Hotel One’ comes under its parent company Pakistan Services Limited while the group is also operating Marriot hotels in Pakistan.

Since the group has already covered all first-tier cities through its five-star hotel chains, the management is now focusing on second-tier cities and other far-flung areas, which have tourist attractions like the northern areas including Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu.

Its single-star chain, Hotel One, has almost 40 sites with most of them being in second-tier cities.

However for Hotel Two, the management is looking for properties along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route as it believes that the route will bring significant business for them.

“We have bought some properties along CPEC route in Punjab and are also looking at expanding our range to other provinces,” said PC General Manager Zulfiqar Ahmed Malik in an interview with The Express Tribune.

He said despite political uncertainty and a still less-than-ideal security situation, the company would keep on investing in existing and new ventures.

“We have started businesses in those places where investors were hesitant to go initially like Gwadar, Muzaffarabad, etc. However, we continue to invest and are about to open hotels in Malam Jabba, Multan, Mirpur and Hyderabad,” he said.

The Hotel One brand would also continue to expand wherever feasible along with Hotel Two which would provide some added features and fall in the two-star category, Malik added.

Interestingly for northern areas, the management has some other plans as far as typical construction is concerned, which takes years.

“In some areas of the north, we will not go for typical construction and may bring in fabricated stuff from China and pull that together which will help us in opening the property rapidly,” Malik said.

The group has raised Rs9 billion recently through Sukuk (Islamic bonds). Malik said the money raised would be used to expand the Hashoo Group’s hotel base in all categories throughout Pakistan.

“We have raised Rs9 billion recently which will be spent on introducing the new hotel category and expansion and renovation of current sites,” he said, adding that successful fund-raising showed the trust placed by banks and financial institutions in the group’s business practices.

Talking about the overall hospitality sector of Pakistan, Malik said the law and order situation had improved significantly. “However, promoting tourism through increased infrastructure development is necessary for the industry to flourish,” he stated.

“Hospitality runs on tourism. Egypt is earning billions of dollars annually only through its pyramids. In Pakistan, we have a huge variety of tourist sites ranging from religious sites to coastal areas, adventure tourism in the Himalayas to desert safaris. It is only a matter of promoting the country’s good image around the globe by the government,” Malik said.
 
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KARACHI: Pakistan is expecting at least seven billion rupees in investment from new oil marketing companies in building of storage infrastructure within the next three years, officials said, as growing demand of retail fuels is attracting investors to capitalise on the country’s low oil inventory capacity.

Officials at the ministry of energy told The News that Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) granted provisional or construction licences to 15 new companies, which are mostly local, to build storage infrastructure across the country. They are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Officials stressed the need of improvement in oil storage capacity across the country with each new oil marketing company required to develop oil depots and installations location wise to cater 20 days requirement.

“Development of further storage infrastructure is very vital strategically, and plays fundamental role in supply chain as Pakistan is net oil importing country,” an official of the energy ministry said.

Currently, there are more than 7,000 retail outlets of OMCs operational in the country, according to the annual report 2016/17 of Ogra. There are around 10 OMCs with major ones including state-owned Pakistan State Oil, Attock Petroleum, Shell, Hascol, Parco and Byco.

Umair Naseer, deputy head research at Topline Securities said there is need of further investment in OMCs sector as demand of retail fuels is increasing, while inventory holding capacity stands at less than a month.

Sales of motor gasoline rose 13 percent year on year to 4.91 million tons in the first eight months of the current fiscal year of 2017/18, while diesel sale increased nine percent to 6.04 million tons during the period.

“Actually, an inventory capacity for motor gasoline is for 15 days and since the demand is growing there is need for further investment in storage,” Naseer said. The ministry’s official said government is encouraging the new firms to give priority to rural areas while developing infrastructure. “As per government policy, the licencees are required to focus in far flung areas.”

Naseer of Topline Securities said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s (CPEC) route would be attractive for new oil companies to establish outlets.

“Gwadar and other areas with CPEC focus will see a growing vehicular traffic,” he added. “I think it may otherwise be difficult to convince private companies to build network in far flung areas that lack road and other infrastructure.”

A government document said oil marketing companies are expected to start construction of oil depots at Gujrat, Okara, Hub, Gatti, Vehari and Benazirabad, while some of them are nearing completion at Keamari, Amangarh (Nowshera), Thalian, Kotla Jam (Bhakkar), Machike, Sahiwal, Habibabad and Quetta.
 
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Grand Hyatt Islamabad

Grand Hyatt Islamabad will be meticulously designed to exemplify the Grand Hyatt brand’s signature level of grandeur with an abundance of options for creating spectacular experiences. Expected to open in 2023, the hotel will offer 400 guestrooms, seven food and beverage outlets, two ballrooms, seven meeting rooms, a spa, fitness facilities, private club, and kids club. Additionally, the hotel will be the first internationally-branded golf resort in Pakistan and will have a state-of-the-art golf club house.


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ISLAMABAD: The remaining 12km under-construction section of Hazara Motorway is almost complete and it will likely be opened for traffic in May.

Talking to APP, National Highway Authority (NHA) Member Motorway North Shahid Ehsan said by completing this portion, the Hazara Motorway would become fully operational and provide a modern six-lane road facility to the people of Havelian, Abbottabad and Mansehra.

A 47km section of the Hassanabdal-Havelian Motorway, commonly known as the Hazara Motorway, was opened for traffic from Burhan to Shah Maqsood interchange in December last year.

For timely construction of the motorway, it was divided into three packages out of which two packages were completed last year, but the third was delayed due to difficult terrain.

Ehsan said total length of the Hazara Motorway from Hassanabdal to Havelian would be 59.1 kilometres. The project would have five interchanges with toll plazas at entrance and exit points.He said a section up to Mansehra of Havelian-Thakot Motorway would be opened for traffic by May next year.
 
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ISLAMABAD: The remaining 12km under-construction section of Hazara Motorway is almost complete and it will likely be opened for traffic in May.

Talking to APP, National Highway Authority (NHA) Member Motorway North Shahid Ehsan said by completing this portion, the Hazara Motorway would become fully operational and provide a modern six-lane road facility to the people of Havelian, Abbottabad and Mansehra.

A 47km section of the Hassanabdal-Havelian Motorway, commonly known as the Hazara Motorway, was opened for traffic from Burhan to Shah Maqsood interchange in December last year.

For timely construction of the motorway, it was divided into three packages out of which two packages were completed last year, but the third was delayed due to difficult terrain.

Ehsan said total length of the Hazara Motorway from Hassanabdal to Havelian would be 59.1 kilometres. The project would have five interchanges with toll plazas at entrance and exit points.He said a section up to Mansehra of Havelian-Thakot Motorway would be opened for traffic by May next year.

May ? Not possible.
Maybe july-August
 
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JazzCash and FWO to Partner for Digitized Toll Fee Payments
JazzCash has entered into an agreement with the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) for digitizing the M-Tag facility. With this new partnership, users can now pay their toll fees on the motorway through JazzCash.
currently, more than a hundred thousand people travel daily on the M2. Those using the M-Tag facility have to wait in long queues for cash deposits. But not anymore.

As a result of this partnership, customers will not only be able to top up their M-Tag accounts through FWO’s mobile app ‘Smart Motorways’ and their official website, but also through their JazzCash mobile accounts and through the extensive JazzCash retailer network nationwide. There’s plans for integrating the JazzCash Payment gateway in the official app and the website as well.
Speaking on the occasion, Aniqa Afzal Sandhu, Chief MFS & Digital Officer, Mobile Financial Services – Jazz, said,

“Digital payment is the simplest, safest, and most convenient way to make regular or recurring payments; hence the reason being that it’s used for transactions like toll tax and utility bills. As a leading digital company, our customer’s financial needs take top priority and we continue to strive hard in providing them with the best services.”

The partnership will be pilot tested at the M2 (ISB-LHR) Motorway and will soon be available for travelers using the M1 and M3.
 
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