January 2012 Issue

1. Sole option: Motorists throng MoP-run CNG station
Jan 2nd, Islamabad: Long queues of all sorts of vehicles on Sunday were seen thronging CNG station run by Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) for getting their empty cylinders filled, Daily Times learned. The scarcity of CNG was badly felt in the federal capital because all the private CNG stations in the city remained closed in protest against hike in gas price and load shedding.

The scarcity of CNG was badly felt in the federal capital because all the private CNG stations in the city remained closed in protest against hike in gas price and load shedding.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\01\02\story_2-1-2012_pg11_1

2. Hydrogen cars: a suggestion
Jan 3rd: It is very encouraging to learn that students of NED University, Karachi, are researching on renewable and pollution-free fuel for cars. I wish them success. However, I have the following comments: I guess the hydrogen gas would be stored in cylinders. If this is the case, there would be a risk of bursting as it is happening with CNG cylinders almost on a daily basis. There are mainly two reasons why these cylinders burst, primarily the use of low-quality material for cylinders.

Even if good quality material is used, cylinders develop stress and metal fatigue after a certain period. There appears to be no system in Pakistan to relieve this stress and metal fatigue. The method usually used to relieve this stress is to heat the empty cylinders for several hours after many hours of use.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/hydrogen-cars-a-suggestion.html

3. EPD sealed 364 polluting units
Jan 5th, Lahore: The Environment Protection Department Punjab, taking action against polluters, processed 946 complaints in 2011 besides sealing 364 polluting units and filed 880 cases in the environmental tribunal. In 2011, the EPD worked on various tasks including, hospital care waste management, sensitisation of the public through environmental education, monitoring of industrial emissions, ambient air quality, drinking water, effluents abatement of vehicular pollution, establishment of biodiversity parks and control of dengue fever in Punjab.

EPD initiated action for the management of hospital care waste and arranged several meetings with stakeholders to ascertain compliance of the Hospital Waste Management Rules, 2005. The department received 458 cases last year regarding mismanagement and unsafe disposal of hazardous hospital waste and consequently initiated action.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=85934&Cat=5

4. Govt to complete 23 projects worth Rs. 8.2bn in Karachi
Jan 5th, Karachi: The Planning Commission of Pakistan aims to complete 23 development projects worth Rs8.2 billion in Karachi by the end of current fiscal year under the public investment programming (PIP). The commission recently gave a presentation to the members of the Sindh Assembly and apprised them on development packages for Karachi and Hyderabad.

The briefing also covered Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) Project, Lyari Expressway and Karachi Mass Transit Project. The Commission informed that since financial year 2006-07 to 2011-12, about 134 projects, including those 23 projects which are near completion, had been completed in Karachi with total estimated cost of Rs37.7 billion. Similarly in Hyderabad about 11 projects with total investment of Rs0.7 billion had been completed in the same period.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=85814&Cat=3

5. World LPG Association shuns gas subsidies
Jan 7th,Karachi: The world liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) body has criticised subsidies give to compressed natural gas (CNG) in Pakistan, terming that such a policy will prejudice the development of LPG autogas and consequently deprive many people in Pakistan access to this clean, portable fuel, an official said on Friday.

Pakistan’s energy crisis has led to a debate on the best fuel option for running vehicles and a new player World LP Gas Association (WLPGA) has joined it. Previously, the debate involved representatives of All Pakistan CNG Association, LPG Association of Pakistan and LPG Distributors Association. World LP Gas Association Chief Executive Officer James Rockail in a letter to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Acting Chairman Sabir Hussain expressed dismay that CNG in Pakistan had benefited for several years from a subsidised rate of natural gas and had received a degree of protection and guaranteed profit margins by having its price at a discount to petrol.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=86191&Cat=3

6. Pak-EPA achieves a breakthrough
Jan 9th, Islamabad: The initiative launched by Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-Epa) for greening the steel industry has made some progress as one of the eight steel mills in the capital installed equipment to control emissions of pollutants.

The bag-house filter is a proven technology worldwide to control 99 per cent emissions of dangerous pollutants from chimneys,” said Director General Pak-EPA Asif Shuja who had given four months to the owners of steel mills in the capital industrial sectors to install the environment-friendly equipment. After a lot of pushing by the government, Pak-EPA and the owners of the steel mills signed a resolution supporting the agency to make Islamabad pollution-free in general and the industrial area in particular
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/09/greening-capital-steel-industry-pak-epa-a...

7. Sindh wants Chinese investment in energy sector: Zubair Motiwala
Jan 15th,Karachi: The Chinese Consul General, Yak Jianming, called on Chairman Sindh Board of Investment (SBI),Muhammad Zubair Motiwala, to offer the services with regards to project in pipeline. A statement issued here on Sunday said that a detail presentation with regards to MoUs and agreements signed during the visit of high power Pakistani delegation which included Energy Giants M/s China Three Gorges and United Energy Group (Orient Group) were signed.

It said that these MoUs were related to establishment of Coal Power Projects in Province of Sind by China's Three Gorges Corporation (4,000 MW from Thar Coal and 300MW at Sondha District Thatta), Development of 1,000 MW Wind Power Projects in Province of Sindh by China Three Gorges Corporation, Development of Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) Manufacturing facilities in Province of Sindh by China Three Gorges Corporation and Development of 150-500 MW Wind Power and other investment projects in the Province of Sindh by United Energy Pakistan Limited.
http://www.brecorder.com/pakistan/business-a-economy/42352-sindh-wants-c...

8. Levy on diesel to be cut by 50pc: Plan to discourage use of CNG
Jan16th, Islamabad: Caught in a gas shortage crisis, the government has decided in principle to reduce petroleum levy on diesel by 50 per cent and gradually increase rates for compressed natural gas (CNG) to discourage natural gas consumption in the transport sector. A preliminary agreement on the decision was reached during a recent meeting presided over by Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain.

The minister confirmed to Dawn that the government was considering cutting petroleum levy on high speed diesel by half under a long-term strategy to incentivise the private transport so that it switched back to diesel. The government is currently charging about Rs8 per liter on high speed diesel that would come down to Rs4 after the implementation of the decision. He, however, agreed that revision of gas and diesel prices would not take place overnight because people had made investments and would be given opportunity to phase out.
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/16/levy-on-diesel-to-be-cut-by-50pc-plan-to-...

9. Railways acquires Rs10 billion to repair 200 locomotives
Jan 16th, Lahore: Pakistan Railways has planned to repair as many as 200 locomotives in a period of one year as department has almost managed Rs10 billion in this regard. Among these 200 locomotives, 96 will be repaired from the recently received bank loan of Rs6 billion while rest of locomotives would be overhauled by spending Rs4 billion being generated through different private companies.

Pakistan Railways General Manager Rana Saeed Akhtar expressed threes remarks while giving exclusive interview to daily The Nation. He revealed that Railways’ existing fleet comprises of just 110 locomotives and shortage of them considered to be main reason behind ongoing PR crisis. He opined that after the injection of these 200 locomotives, it is hoped that PR would be able to stand on its own feet
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/bu...

10. The curious case of CNG conversion ban
Jan 22nd:Recently Government of Pakistan, without consulting the stake holders involved, imposed ban on import of CNG Kits and CNG Cylinders and has restricted the OEM companies i.e. Pak Suzuki Motor Company, Indus Motors Company and also after market installers to stop conversion of vehicles to CNG. It is pertinent to understand the background as to why GOP started vigorously promoting CNG around year 2000 onwards with the full knowledge of the natural gas reserves available in the country and the projected consumption of natural gas by other sectors of the economy.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/01/the-curious-case-of-cng-conversi...

11. City of gardens’ choking up on its own smoke
Jan 25th, Lahore: The provincial capital, once called the “city of gardens”, has now turned into the “city of smoke” as excessive poisonous gases have overshadowed the beauty and efficacy of gardens in the city. Noisy and smoke-emitting vehicles have outnumbered the sweet-scented flowers and air-filtering trees in the gardens across the metropolis.

Condemning the rise in pollution, the residents of Lahore, especially the senior citizens, expressed great dismay over the dilapidated gardens while comparing the current condition of the city with that of 30 to 40 years earlier. “Gardens are becoming desolate, while smoke and pollution are widespread. Lahore is no more a city of gardens, it has rather become a city of smoke,” said a senior citizen, Irfan Ahmad
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\01\25\story_25-1-2012_pg13_8

12. Railways freight service from Karachi Port restored
Lahore: Pakistan Railways (PR) have restored freight train service from Karachi Port to other parts of the country and one freight train was leaving daily after loading from the port. The railways administration has decided that first they would clear coal, phosphate and railways material from Karachi port, while container service would start within next ten days.

There were 111 locomotives operating in which total 18 locomotives were reserved for freight service and 10 of those would carry the material from Karachi Port, sources added. According to an estimate some 100 freight wagons were halted at Karachi Port due to shortage of locomotives and hopefully all these wagons would now be cleared till Monday, January 23, sources observed
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=136648