9 Nov 2018

6
Friday, November 9, 2018
Biz
China will continue to support Pakistan
in economic development: Hua Chunying
BEIJING: China will
continue to offer assistance
and support to
Pakistan in its economic
and social development.
This was stated by
Chinese Foreign
Ministry Spokesperson
Hua Chunying, while
responding to a question
during regular press
conference in Beijing.
Regarding recently
concluded visit of
USC chalks out comprehensive strategy for growth: MD
ISLAMABAD: The
Managing Director Utility
Stores Corporation (USC)
Wajid Ali Khan Swati has
stated that USC has
chalked out comprehensive
strategy for betterment of
its all operations.
He stated this while
addressing the executive
board meeting of corporation
that was held on
Thursday.
He informed the members
that utility stories that
run in loss would be shifted
to better location and
added that all unnecessary
spending would be controlled
in this regard.
Moreover, he stated that
Senate discusses
electricity, gas prices
and foreign policy
ISLAMABAD: The
Senate on Thursday
resumed discussion on the
agenda items including
loans from foreign countries,
increase in the prices
of electricity and gas and
the country’s foreign policy
in the context of Yemen
issue. Taking part in the
discussion, Senator Javed
Abbasi appreciated the
Senate Chairman and the
staff of the Senate
Secretariat for holding a
successful conference of
Asian Parliamentary
Assembly in Gawadar. He
said the event projected
soft image of Balochistan
and Pakistan in the world.
Criticizing the government
for increase in
the rates of gas and electricity
and adding burden
of taxes on common people,
he urged the government
to withdraw this
increase.
He said the parliament
should be informed about
the conditions on which a
financial package was
secured from Saudi Arabia.
After deadly Lion Air crash, new focus on
torrid industry growth in Indonesia
JAKARTA: In April
2013, a Lion Air Boeing
737 missed the runway on
the Indonesian resort island
of Bali in bad weather and
plowed into the sea, cracking
its fuselage open on the
rocks.
All 108 on board survived.
But a September
2014 report by Indonesia’s
air crash investigators highlighted
errors and poor
training, saying the 24-yearold
co-pilot had failed to
adhere to the “basic principles
of jet aircraft flying.”
Lion Air, struggling to
get off a European Union
blacklist because of “unaddressed
safety concerns,”
COLOMBO: Gleaming
cranes stretch out on the
waterfront in the Sri
Lankan capital Colombo
as Chinese companies
construct a $1.5 billion
new commercial district,
including hotels, marinas
and a motor racing track.
They have already built a
giant container terminal
nearby and a huge port in
KARACHI: Director
General Pakistan Rangers
Sindh Maj. Gen. Mohammad
Saeed has stressed that
Karachi needs enhanced
number of policemen who
must also be fully equipped
with modern technologies so
that they could efficiently
maintain law & order situation
of a city with a huge population.
Speaking at a meeting
during his visit to the Karachi
Chamber of Commerce &
Industry, DG Rangers added
that under Safe City Project,
high-quality cameras have to
be installed all over the city to
easily identify and apprehend
USC will begin its operation
very soon to provide
commodities to people at
cheap rates as our strategy
has been finalized.
PTI government led by
Imran Khan barred USC
from purchasing for the
time being fore cleansing
the dirt of corruption left
by previous government as
this public utility corporation
was marred with corruption
nepotism and miss
management, he added.
The incumbent government
examined the whole
affairs and cleared the bottleneck
involved in its purchasing
operation. After
thoroughly study the government
has decided to
start its business again in
order to provide things to
the peoples at lower rate.
Availability of all necessary
items at USC outlets
will be ensured, sales of the
Corporation will be
increased, all types of
expenditures will be controlled,
un viable stores
will be shifted to viable
locations, recoveries of
shortages
and
removal/replacement of
damage stock from stores
points and ware houses
will made on urgent basis,
he reiterated.
New fast moving items
will be inducting in the
the culprits while tracker
enabled chip-based number
plates for vehicles/ motorcycles
have to be provided
which, if implemented,
would surely bring down the
street crimes. “The first fundamental
requirement is to
enhance the number of
policemen and install cameras.
Secondly, everyone has
to participate in order to
resolve law and order
issues”, he added.
Chairman Businessmen
Group & Former President
KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli,
Vice Chairman BMG
Haroon Farooki, President
KCCI Junaid Esmail Makda,
asked Airbus, which supplies
part of its fleet, to help
improve training.
The EU removed the privately
owned budget airline
from the list in 2016 after it
determined Lion Air met
international safety standards.
None of Indonesia’s
roughly 100 airlines - most
of them tiny - remain on the
EU blacklist, with the last
few coming off in June. All
were banned in 2007; the
national carrier, Garuda
Indonesia, was the first to be
the south.
Now India, the traditional
power in the region,
is muscling into port and
other projects, pushing
back hard against China.
The big fear for India is
that Sri Lanka, just off its
southern coast and on one
of the world’s busiest
shipping routes, could
become a Chinese military
outpost.
But the battle is creating
political turmoil in Sri
Lanka. A bust-up between
President Maithripala
Sirisena and Prime
Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe over
how far to accommodate
Indian interests is a key
reason the nation’s unity
government has just fallen
product range during fresh
procurements to boost the
sales of the Corporation.
He added that all
employees and official of
USC is willingly and committed
to give extra duty
timing for the betterment
of the Corporation and for
the restoration of customer’s
confidence.
The Corporation has
resumes all its procurement
activities and soon the public
will notice a positive
change in USC outlets and
all quality items will be
dumped in the Stores
which will be provided on
cheaper rates than prevailing
markets rates.
Karachi needs enhanced number
of policemen: DG Rangers
KARACHI: Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President, Junaid Ismail presenting
crest to Director General, Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Major General
Muhammad Saeed during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Senior Vice President
Khurram Shahzad, Vice
President Asif Sheikh Javaid,
Former Presidents AQ
Khalil, Majyd Aziz, Iftikhar
Ahmed Vohra, Younus
Muhammad Bashir and
Shamim Ahmed Firpo along
with KCCI Managing
Committee Members attended
the meeting.
DG Rangers pointed out
that Karachi has a total of just
31,000 policemen and 110
police stations, of which only
14,000 policemen were
available to CCPO on any
given day with no helicopter
fleet, no forensic labs and no
other specialized force.
removed in 2009.
The crash of a Lion Air
jet on Oct. 29 into the sea off
Jakarta has put a spotlight
back on the airline’s safety
record, although the cause
remains undetermined.
None of the aircraft’s 189
passengers and crew survived.
Lion Air’s latest crisis
illustrates the challenge relatively
new carriers face as
they try to keep pace with
unstoppable demand for air
travel in developing nations
while striving for standards
that mature markets took
decades to reach.
Retired air force chief of
staff Chappy Hakim, an
Prime Minister Imran
Khan to China, the
Spokesperson said the
visit has cemented the
China-Pakistan friendly
relations.
She said the two
sides agreed to firmly
advance the China-
Pakistan Economic
Corridor, set up the task
force on social and
livelihood projects to
constantly enrich and
expand the CPEC.
ICCI welcomes
Chinese assurance
for doubling
imports from Pak
ISLAMABAD: Ahmed
Hassan Moughal,
President, Islamabad
Chamber of Commerce &
Industry has welcomed the
assurance of Chinese leadership
during the recent
visit of Prime Minister of
Pakistan to Chinato double
its imports from Pakistan
and termed it a positive
development as it would
help in reducing Pakistan’s
trade imbalance with China
and improve the country’s
dwindling forex reserves.
However, he said that
the Pakistani leadership
should have pressed with
the Chinese leadership for
enhanced market access to
Pakistan on similar lines as
China has given to
Bangladesh and member
countries of ASEAN.
He said this arrangement
would have given significant
boost to our exports to
China. He said that China’s
imports from Jan-July 2018
were over $1.22 trillion
which showed that it was a
huge market for Pakistan
and urged that Pakistani
exporters should fully capitalize
this huge potential for
exports.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal
stressed upon the government
to focus on expanding
export-based infrastructure
through policy measures in
order to trigger the growth
of exports. He said by
focusing on export-based
infrastructure, Vietnam had
turned the East Asian Crisis
of 1990s into an economic
miracle. He said the introduction
of sound economic
policies enabled Vietnam to
increase its exports from
single digit in 1995 to triple
digits in 2017 in terms of
billion dollars as Vietnam’s
exports of goods had
crossed $213 billion in
2017.
adviser to the transport ministry,
told Reuters he avoided
flying with Lion Air or
other Indonesian airlines,
with the exception of
Garuda, which has not had a
fatal crash since 2007.
“I know Garuda,” he
said of the national carrier.
“The other airlines, I don’t
believe they do the maintenance
and training properly.”
He declined to elaborate
further.
Lion Air Managing
Director Daniel Putut disputed
any laxity in the airline’s
safety culture, stressing
that it conducted maintenance
in accordance with
manufacturer guidelines.
CORPORATE CORNER
JS Bank rejects reports of
customer data breach
KARACHI: JS Bank reiterates its commitment to the
highest levels of security in terms of customer information
and deposit protection.
Our risk management controls and multi layers of protection
have ensured that the banks data and systems remain
secure against any untoward fraudulent activity. Our 24/7 monitoring and forensic
evaluation has also confirmed that no data of JS Bank customers has been exposed
to any external party.
We would once again take this opportunity to assure our customers and the general
public that JS Bank customer data and deposits remain completely secured.
We thank our customers for their continued trust and confidence in us, as we continue
to deliver unparalleled services.
PTCL upgrades exchanges
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) President and
CEO, Daniel Ritz in a group photo along with PTCL team of I-10 Islamabad exchange.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has
transformed key exchanges as part of its comprehensive Network Transformation
Project (NTP) under which Bahria Town, Shaheen Town, Tarlai and I-10 exchanges
in Islamabad have been upgraded. This transformation will ensure that customers
residing in these areas are able to experience reliable, high speed internet.
The transformation has already started to show great results as 53 exchanges, out
of the 100 which were initially planned, have been successfully transformed, thus
positively impacting approximately 50% of PTCL’s overall customer base.
Complaints have considerably reduced by 30% where the network has been
upgraded. This has resulted in efficient complaint resolution through ‘Motive’,
which is a unique innovation tool for wireline business aimed at identification of
complaint’s cause.
Through a transformed network, PTCL can provide a faster connection with the
improved copper network and the new fiber network. PTCL has installed 300,000
high-quality new equipment for customer premises nationwide this year, which
offers ultra-high data rates of up to 100 mbps. Up to 16 users can connect to the
high-quality modems at the same time through Wi-Fi.
Arslan Haider, Regional General Manager, PTCL, Islamabad said, “This project
has provided numerous benefits to our customers and overall we have had a positive
response. For PTCL, NTP is a huge factor in our current increase in overall efficiency
in complaint resolution. In the long run, a satisfied customer base will result
in not only acquiring new customers but also enable PTCL to contend on another
level with the competition.”
This massive transformation project is taking place in major cities across
Pakistan, whereby customers will be able to experience a faster and more reliable
network than before.
Engro Polymer signs US$ 35mn Ijarah
based long term financing facility with IFC!
KARACHI: Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited
(EPCL) announced financing of USD 35mn from International
Finance Corporation, for expansion plans for its production
plant of PVC – a chemical used in making numerous plastic
products construction materials like water and sewerage pipes,
cables, and consumer items like shoes, packaging films, etc – according to a bourse
filing on 8th Nov.
This financing was a part of the initial Rs 10.3bn expansion plan announced earlier,
out of which Rs 5.4bn has already been raised from the issue of right shares.
Engro Polymer has been associated with International Finance Corporation
(IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, since its inception. EPCL, which
remains the industry leader being the sole producer of PVC resin in Pakistan, disclosed
adding a new production line of PVC after demand for the chemical continued
to surge significantly in the country mainly due to a boom in construction activities.
While speaking at the occasion, Syed Abbas Raza - CFO Engro Polymer and
Chemicals Limited said: “This financing of US$ 35 million would not only fund our
expansion plan but would also bring precious foreign exchange to our country. The
funds from International Finance Corporation will contribute towards the completion
of the expansion project paving the pathway for development of construction
activities in Pakistan.”
EPCL announced investing over Rs10 billion for expansion of the plants including
those producing other related chemicals like VCM (raw material for PVC) and
adding a new product to its portfolio namely caustic soda flakes. While expanding
the business, EPCL will add a new PVC plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons (taking
total capacity to 295,000 ton per annum) and increase production of VCM (the
raw material) by 50,000 tons through debottlenecking of the existing plant by the
third quarter of 2020.
Engro Polymer aims toward converting all its long term debts on principles of
Islamic finance mode. Bilal Ahmed, Head of Treasury at Engro Polymer added that:
“The Company is also in a process of issuance Sukuks to refinance the existing debt
on the Company’s balance sheet. We aim to complete the exercise before the end of
2018.” Nena Stoiljkovic, IFC Vice President, Asia and Pacific, said: “Engro
Polymer’s success highlights the potential of the private sector to build capacity and
transform industries through the adoption of better technology and standards. This
investment will send a strong market signal on the positive outlook for the chemical
sector, while also showcasing Pakistan's promise to mitigate climate change.”
Nadeem Siddiqui, Senior Country Manager IFC, adding at this occasion: “IFC is
proud to enter into the first Islamic finance transaction with a manufacturing company
in Pakistan. This country offers a huge potential for industrial growth and development.
Hopefully this will be the first of many such transactions that IFC will conduct.
Behind Sri Lanka's turmoil, a China-India struggle for investments and influence
apart, government officials
and foreign diplomats
said.
Wickremesinghe, who
was fired on Oct. 26 and
replaced by veteran pro-
China politician Mahinda
Rajapaksa, told Reuters
about arguments at a cabinet
meeting chaired by the
president last month over
a proposal to grant development
of a Colombo port
project to a Japan-India
joint venture.
“There are arguments
in the cabinet, sometimes
heated arguments,” he
said.
Wickremesinghe did
not name the president but
said: “There was a paper
put forth to not give it to
India, Japan.”