The federal government has released Rs1.625 billion for the completion of seven ongoing and six new petroleum-related projects to improve the energy sector, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

According to details, Rs1,473.683 million are to be distributed among the seven ongoing schemes, out of which Rs263m were meant for the establishment of National Minerals Data Centre (NMDC), Rs345.321 for Expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Core House (PETCORE), Rs30m for Geological Mapping on 50 Toposheets, out of 354 unmapped Toposheets of Outcrop Area of Balochistan province, Rs385.336m for strengthening and up-gradation of Karachi Laboratories Complex (KLC) at HDIP Operations Office, Karachi, Rs76.580m for the supply of 13.5 MMCFD gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Sindh, Rs 230m for the supply of 30MMCFD gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Rs143.446m for up-gradation of POL testing facilities of HDIP at Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and ISO Certification of Petroleum Testing Laboratory at Islamabad.

Similarly, Rs1,775.857m have been allocated to fund the new schemes, out of which Rs40m were kept for development of Strategic Underground Gas Storage (SUGS), Rs30m for Legal Consultancy Services for drafting of Model Mineral Agreement and updating of Regulatory Framework (Federal and Provincial Minerals/Coal Departments) prepared by Mineral Wing, Petroleum Division, Rs40m for Pakistan National Research Programme on Geological Hazards (Earthquakes and Landslides) – Data Acquisition along Active Faults and Identification of Potential Landslides Hotspot Zones, Rs73.447m for the supply of 10 MMCFD RLNG to Bostan Special Economic Zone, Rs149.410m for the supply of 13 MMCFD RLNG to Bin Qasim Industrial Park and Rs785m for the supply of 40 MMCFD gas/RLNG to Allama Iqbal Industrial City Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Faisalabad.

ISLAMABAD – Various leading Chinese companies have invested over one billion US dollars in different sectors in the second phase of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan which would not only create job opportunities but also make the country’s economy strong, vibrant, robust and export-oriented.

This was stated by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on CPEC and Chairman CPEC Khalid Masroor while addressing a news conference at the CPEC head office along with Chinese businessmen after meeting Prime Minister Imran Khan here yesterday.

Sharing the details, Khalid Masroor said that CEOs of eight Chinese companies met the PM and briefed him about their investment plans and also bottlenecks which they are facing in their projects in Pakistan.

He said these companies have invested in Faisalabad Industrial City and their assembling and production plants have started working.

A Chinese company, the expert in making prefab homes, has been given land and it has invested $20 million in setting up its plant which would make cost-effective homes on five-marla land with a cost of four million only.

Khalid Masroor said another Chinese company, an expert in producing cheap transport of two and three-wheelers, has also been allotted land for their production facility. He said these two and three-wheeler transport would be electric vehicles.

He also said another Chinese company known for LEDs has invested 30 million USD for setting up an assembly plant of LED lights in Pakistan.

“The company has been urged by CPEC to convert the assembly plant to production plant”, Khalid Masroor said.

The CPEC chairman said another known Chinese company producing ceramics/tiles have made an investment of 300 million USD in Faisalabad Industrial City. “This company would produce three-meter largest tiles in Pakistan”, he said.

He said in the field of agriculture, another Chinese company has invested 10 million USD and they have been given 11 acres of land.

“The company has employed graduates passed from the Agriculture University of Faisalabad”, Masroor said.

A known Chinese mobile phone company has set up its assembly plant which would produce the best quality mobile phones, Khalid Masroor said.

He said a known Chinese garments company has invested 250 million USD in garments manufacturing plants over an area of 100 acres adding that this company has started its production and hoped company garments exports would touch 450 million USD in the near future.

“Another Chinese company known for producing detergent liquids has invested 35 billion USD over an area of 22 acres of land”, Khalid Masroor said.

Answering various questions, the SAPM on CPEC said the prime minister took strong exception to the complaints of the delegation concerning various departments and told the businessmen that they should report to the PM office directly for swift response and resolution of their problems.

He said the one-window system has been made at CPEC so that Chinese businessmen and companies may not face any hurdle in getting NOCs for their business and factories.

One large industrial zone has already been set up in each province for Chinese companies Rashakai in KP, Faisalabad Industrial City in Punjab, and Dhabaji in Sindh, and one for Balochistan in Gwadar.

Answering another question, he said the projects under CPEC are being reviewed so that such projects could be completed in near future.

He termed the issue of repayment of 3 billion USD of Chinese loans as important and sensitive and said that it matter would be discussed with the Chinese government for rescheduling of these loans.

Replying to another question, he said CPEC projects would continue. He said two special security divisions created by the Pakistan army are providing the best security to Chinese projects across Pakistan.

“The Chinese have demanded something more for better security and their demands have been addressed”, Khalid Masroor said.

He said the meeting of the Pakistan-China high-level strategic forum which was earlier delayed is expected to meet on 23rd or 24th of September 2021 adding that final dates would be announced shortly.

Qamar Khan, a cousin, and friend of PM Imran Khan, who accompanied the SAPM on CPEC and Chinese delegation said at the news conference, said the total value of this latest Chinese investment is one billion USD and hoped in the near future five more major companies would invest more in Pakistan which would create massive job opportunities and economic activity.

“PM Imran Khan was very concerned about the problems being faced by these companies and issued on the spot directives for urgent resolution of their problems and made it clear that problems being faced by them should be immediately addressed”, Qamar Khan said.

ISLAMABAD: Chinese company Century Steel has decided to make a $360 million investment in Pakistan for which the government has allotted 20 acres of land in the Rashakai SEZ.

According to details, the government commenced the sale of plots in Rashakai SEZ in January and has since then, allotted 585 acres of land to 24 zone enterprises with a planned investment of Rs136.7 billion, including FDI of $5.21 million in Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Faisalabad.

Documents state that four out of nine CPEC SEZs are at an advanced stage of development. These include the Rashakai SEZ, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Faisalabad  Bostan SEZ and Dhabeji SEZ.

The government has also approved PC-ls worth over Rs16 billion for gas and electricity providers in the above-mentioned SEZs which are in the advanced stage of development.

According to details, 10 MW electricity was provided to Rashakai SEZ in October 2020 as a short term arrangement and 50 MW is to be provided by June 2022, while gasification of the zone is to be completed by December 2021.

Similarly, the government provided 10 MW of electricity in Allama Iqbal Industrial City in December 2020 whereas the construction of grid stations for the provision of 20 MW of electricity is in progress with work expected to be completed by December.

On the other hand, the government provided 5 MMCFD gas as a short-term arrangement in December 2020 in this economic zone. It will also provide 5 MW electricity in Dhabeji SEZ till December 2021 whereas work is in progress for the provision of 13.5 MMCFD gas.

On the other hand, 5 MW electricity will be provided to the Bostan SEZ by December while an amount of Rs731 million has been approved and allocated in PSDP 2021-22 for gasification of the zone which will be completed in 18 months’ time from the release of funds to SSGCL.

It is pertinent to note here that the government has identified nine SEZs under the cooperation of industrial development, including Rashakai SEZ, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Faisalabad Bostan SEZ, Dhabeji SEZ, Model ICT SEZ, Pak Steel Mills SEZ, Karachi  Moqpandas SEZ, GB Mirpur SEZ, and AJK and Mohmand Marble City.

The government saved Rs 5.2 billion on account of detecting 272,149 gas theft cases with total volume of 6,365 million cubic feet (MMCF).

According to three-year performance report released on Thursday, the average monthly loss of high Unaccounted For Gas (UFG) areas was 1,348 MMCF in Fiscal Year 2019-20 which has now been reduced to 859 MMCF during current FY 2020-21.

In order to reduce UFG losses, project regarding Extension and Rehabilitation of gas network in Oil and Gas Producing Districts (Karak etc) under 14 Sales Meter Stations (SMSs) at a total cost of Rs. 9.0 billion (with Rs. 4.7 billion as SNGPL share & Rs. 4.3 billion as KPK Govt. share) was prepared. In July, this year, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited commissioned a new gas pipeline to augment gas supply for its customers residing in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton areas/ The 7-Km, 20-inch diameter, main link distribution project was undertaken by the Company’s Projects and Construction Department.

Work on the project started in December 2020 from the vicinity of Dolmen Mall Clifton.

Open access was granted to private sector to import LNG and Private sector has been allowed to set up terminals in the country with no involvement from Government. Similarly, two new modern refineries are under development while incentives package is being provided for upgradation of existing refineries. Meanwhile, 39 new discoveries in oil and gas sector have been made since 2018 while 40 new blocks for oil exploration in process. New downstream oil policy has also been finalized, the report said.

Dualization of white oil pipeline reducing road traffic to be operational soon. Professional CEOs were appointed in PSOCL, OGDCL, SNGPL, SSGCL, PARCO and GHPL and institutional arrangements have been put in place to provide technical training to ex-cadre employees of Petroleum Division. The Petroleum Division has also initiated scores of Public Sector Development Projects (PSDP) for ensuring energy security of the country in last three years.

The projects included exploration and evaluation of coal in Nosham and Bahlol Areas Balochistan, Geological Mapping of 50 Toposheets out of 354 unmapped Toposheets of outcrop area of Balochistan province, Legal Consultancy Services for drafting of Model Mineral Agreement and updating of Regulatory Framework, supply of 40 MMCFD gas/RLNG to Allama Iqbal Industrial City Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Faisalabad, supply of 10 MMCFD RLNG to Bostan Special Economic Zone, supply of 13 MMCFD RLNG to Bin Qasim Industrial Park, Pakistan National Research Programe initiated on Geological Hazards (Earthquakes and Landslides) Data Acquisition along Active Faults and Identification of Potential Landslides Hotspot Zones, Development of Strategic Underground Gas Storages (SUGS), expansion and up-gradation of Pakistan Petroleum Core House (PETCORE), supply of 13.5 MMCFD Gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Sindh, supply of 30 MMCFD Gas at Doorstep (Zero Point) of Rashakai Special Economic Zone.

China-Pak-_CPEC-1The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government’s special focus on multi-billion dollar projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has helped broaden its scope from infrastructure and energy to industrial, information technology (IT) and agriculture sectors.

During the first three years of the incumbent government, new infrastructure projects started with particular emphasis on the western alignment of CPEC which connects the most underdeveloped regions with Gwadar and major urban centers of the country.

In addition, based on the government’s emphasis on clean energy, work on hydel power projects such as Azad Pattan and Kohala has also been initiated.

With respect to Gwadar’s development, a three-year performance report launched by the government on Thursday said a new international airport in the city is under construction; the connection with national power grid is in advance stages of completion; dams for increased water supply have been built; Eastbay Expressway is nearly completion and a number of socioeconomic projects for the people of Gwadar and nearby areas are being implemented.

The first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under CPEC became operational in Faisalabad in 2020. The second SEZ has been set up in Rashakai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by a Chinese developer, who is also responsible for marketing this SEZ to Chinese and other investors. The third SEZ is expected to become operational at Dhabeji in Sindh soon. Major industrial investment is expected in these SEZs which will make the industrial cooperation strand of CPEC the most vibrant element of the Corridor.

The agriculture Joint Working Group (JWG) under CPEC was set up in March 2020. One of the first projects being taken up is high quality cotton seed production.

Collaborative investments by Chinese and Pakistani companies for different high value crops and large-scale dairy farming are being worked out. This injection of new vitality and global connection is absolutely vital for our agricultural transformation, the report added.