DESIGNED WITHIN CPEC FRAMEWORK , DSEZ TO PAVE WAY FOR INDUSTRIALIZ ATION IN PAKISTAN

ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T facilitate the students at the nearest places to their residences Dr Nasir Mahmood instructed regional heads to guide the students properly He directed regional heads, tutors, and resource persons to actively participate in the admission campaign to ensure that no child is left out of school Prospectuses and admission application forms for all the programs will be available online on the university website (www aiou edu pk) on July 15, 2023 Admission in BS (face to face), MS/MPhil and PhD programs can only be applied via online system whereas admission application forms for matriculation intermediate and I Com can be submitted manually as well as via online mode

In case of online submission of admission application form the candidates are not required to dispatch printed application form to the university

$3b IMF deal to help achieve 2.5pc GDP growth in new fiscal year: PIAF

The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations

Front (PIAF) Chairman Faheemur Rehman Saigol has said that the new $3 billion agreement with the IMF will help the economy stabilize and achieve GDP growth of 2 5% in the new fiscal year of 2023-24 taking the country s foreign reserves to $14 billion

Faheemur Rehman Saigol said that the news comes as a major breakthrough for government that ran from pillar to post to meet conditions of the Washingtonbased lender only to see an incessant delay on a successful completion of the ninth review During this time the public was alienated heavy taxes were imposed, and questions were raised on Pakistan s debt obligations He said that the IMF Executive Board is likely to meet by mid-July to formally approve the new arrangement with Pakistan The new facility also unlocks access to capital markets for Pakistan opening up avenues for lending as it looks to finance its external funding gap Pakistan has budgeted $1 5 billion as a Eurobond and Sukuk for fiscal year 202324 This amount is likely to be dependent on the rates it is offered in the international market Pakistan s foreign exchange reserves, currently under $4 billion, are likely to get a boost as Saudi Arabia UAE and other bilateral partners also come through This is a fresh nine-month program implying that to move forward there will be a new set of conditions to keep the SBA going It gives some room to the government ahead of elections, and takes the onus off the ‘caretaker setup’ to take measures for the economy

The IMF will keep a close eye for the next nine months to ensure Pakistan does not sway from its economic measures The key things it will look at will be the imposition of the petroleum development levy (the new ceiling is Rs60) The IMF acknowledged that Pakistan s economy faced several external shocks, but was quick to point out that there were some policy missteps including shortages from constraints on the functioning of the FX market

Karot HPP contributes 3.64bln units of clean electricit y in one year

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

The 720 megawatts Karot hydropower plant contributed around 3 64 billion units of clean and low-cost electricity to the National Grid in one year of its commercial operations This was disclosed by CTG

Int'l which marks the completion of the first year of the commercial operations of the Karot hydropower project Karot was the first hydropower project completed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, which started commercial operations on June 29, 2022

According to a Gwadar

Pro's report, that Karot contributed Rs 4 billion worth of electricity to the National Grid free of cost during its testing and commissioning phase Karot is a steady source of clean and affordable electricity for Pakistan

According to the latest energy purchase data released on June 15 by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Karot contributed more than 509 86 million units of electricity in May 2023 at a cost of Rs 115 02 million It comes out that the electricity generation cost for this flagship CPEC power project stood at only Rs 0 226 per unit for the month of May

The project was executed by China Three Gorges (CTG) at a cost of around $2 billion

DH A B E J I Special Economic Zones (DSEZ) in Thatta Sindh is another mega project designed within the framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to promote value addition in exports, generate employment and mobilize foreign exchange for the balance of payments support In a major development last week Federal Minister for Board of Investment (BOI) Choudhary Salik Hussain chaired the 8th meeting of the Approvals Committee which approved the establishment of eight SEZs including the DSEZ Thatta

According to a Gwadar Pro’s report, “Dhabeji Special Economic Zone has been granted SEZ status after much anticipation; DSEZ will pave a new era of industrialization for Karachi and Pakistan; the groundbreaking is to be held in mid-July 2023, reads an official statement of Sindh Economic Zones Management Company (SEZMC)

DSEZ will facilitate the potential investors of China and other countries to either start new enterprises or transfer their facilities to Pakistan In 2021 a technical issue emerged regarding the awarding of the contract of Dhabeji Industrial Zone (DIZ) when a petitioner raised questions that the rules of SEZ were not followed during awarding of the contract SEZMC stated DIZ is not a special economic zone and later will be declared as SEZ Now the government has officially declared DIZ as DSEZ

PIA’s brings back 1,300 pilgrims to countr y

KARACHI

The PIA s post-Hajj operation from Saudi Arabia commenced on Sunday and the national flag-carrier brought back more than 1300 hujjaj a spokesman informed here on Sunday In a statement issued here he informed that the first post-Hajj flights reached Karachi Islamabad Lahore and Peshawar on Sunday bringing back more than 1300 hujjaj The PIA brought back more than 377 hujjaj to Karachi, 392 to Islamabad 323 hujjaj to Lahore and 276 hujjaj to Peshawar

The hujjaj of first flight to Karachi were welcomed and received by Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, PIA Airport Station Manager Javed Pechuho along with officials of PIA Passenger Handling Services and hujjaj were presented rose garlands

Officials of CAA were also present to welcome the hujjaj

At Islamabad Airport hujjaj were welcomed and received by Senator Talha Mehmood, who also accompanied the hujajj on same flight from Jeddah

The hujjaj at Lahore Airport were welcomed and received by PIA Airport Station Manager Ali Abbas Shah and officials of passenger Handling services PIA while the hujjaj at Peshawar Airport were welcomed and received by PIA and CAA officials PIA officials welcomed and received the hujjaj at all Airports and garlanded them floral wreaths PIA will operate nearly 268 flights to bring back 61,467 Hujjaj to Pakistan Nearly 41,000 government scheme hujjaj, 19,000 private hujjaj and 600 khuddam from Jeddah and Madinah Airports will arrive in Pakistan through PIA flights PIA will operate direct Hajj flights to Karachi Islamabad Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Peshawar The PIA’s post Hajj Operation will conclude on 2 August 2023