01

BUSINESS

BWednesday, 10 April, 2013

Increasing petroleum imports are eating up precious foreign

exchange reserves therefore we must boost efficient use of

natural gas. — Minister for Petroleum Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui

SC reserves verdict

on SEC chairman’s

inductionISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on

Tuesday reserved its decision

regarding the appointment of the

chairman Security and Exchange

Commission for two weeks. A two-

member bench led by Justice Jawwad

S Khawaja resumed the hearing of the

case on Tuesday. Afnan Karim Kundi,

representing the applicant, said in his

arguments that the prime minister

took the decision in spite of opposition

by the Senate’s standing committee.

Moreover 247 officers were bypassed

as the appointment was made without

advertising in the media. The

defendant’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja

told the court that necessary rules and

regulation were followed in the

appointment of his client. ONLINE

Fruits exports rises

1.82 pc in 8 months

of FY13 ISLAMABAD: The fruits exports of

the country increased by 1.82 percent

during first eight months of current

fiscal year (2012-13). The exports of

fruits during the period July-February

(2012-13) were recorded at $276.159

million against the exports of

$271.233 million during same period

of last year. According to data of

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS),

the fruits exports on month on month

basis also increased by 3.02 percent

during February 2013 against same

period of last year whereas when

compared to January 2013, the fruits

exports decreased by 21.3 percent.

The fruits worth of $54.7 million were

exported during February 2013

whereas its volume remained $53.1

million and $69.51 million during

February, 2012 and January 2013

respectively. Similarly the vegetables

exports from the country during July-

February (2013-12) surged by 51.08

percent against same period of last

year. APP

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE Lahore High Court (LHC)on Tuesday allowed State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Gov-ernor Ashraf Wathra to continuehis job, which he had been

barred from continuing last Thursday.During the hearing of a petition moved

against the appointment, the counsel of theElection Commission of Pakistan said thecommission had no objection over the ap-pointment as it was an administrative mat-ter of the central bank. On this, the LHCallowed Wathra to continue his job asdeputy governor of the SBP.

On Thursday, Justice Syed MansoorAli Shah restrained Wathra from workingas the deputy SBP governor while hearinga petition seeking implementation of Ar-

ticles 62 and 63 of the Constitution inorder to stop ineligible candidates fromcontesting upcoming polls andchallenging all appoint-ments made by federaland provincial gov-ernments in viola-tion of a banimposed by Elec-tion Commissionof Pakistan.

In his re-marks, JusticeShah had ob-served, “These arepre-election riggingtechniques.” He alsoexpressed wonder at theimpugned appointment afterconstitutional directions issued bythe ECP.

The SBP’s counsel argued that thebank had nothing to do with the

appointment as

the formerprime minister being law-

ful authority made the appointment. He

sought time to file a reply on the matterand requested the court to adjourn hearing

till Monday. However, he withdrew hisrequest when the judge remarked

that the suspension of deputygovernor would continue tillnext hearing.

Contesting the petition tothe extent of implementationof Articles 62 and 63 of theConstitution, the ECP counselargued that almost 20 per centscrutiny of nomination papershad been completed and the

proceedings of the instant casecould delay the election.

Rejecting the argument, Jus-tice Shah observed, “There is no

harm if scrutiny process gets delayedbut no ineligible person should be allowedto sit in the assemblies.”

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Experts have emphasised the need for in-troducing more independent power produc-ers (IPPS) to curb hour-long unannouncedpower outages in the country.

Speakers expressed these views at the6th International Power Conference andExhibition on Emerging Energy Mix forSustainable Power Generation. The SindhYouth Affairs Department and NationalForum for Environment and Health(NFEH) organised the event. “The inde-pendent power producers (IPPs) can gen-erate more energy with more efficiency ascompared to public sector, however, gov-ernment’s facilities and encouragement isrequired in this regard,” they added.

Abbas Sajid, Renewable Energy Asso-ciation of Pakistan (REAP) chairman, said

that his organisation was imparting trainingto people in power sector and striving forovercoming power shortages and findingits alternative solutions.

He stressed the need to boost renew-able energy production in the country. “Weas a nation should come up with concretemeasures to foster power generation forsocio-economic uplift,” he said.

Abdullah Yusuf, IPPs Advisory Coun-cil chairman, said that the power shortagehad become a big issue as the country’spopulation had increased at a high pace. Hesaid it is the need of the hour that effectivesteps should be taken to produce alterna-tive power like wind and solar energy.

He said that power producers were fac-ing several problems like high cost of gen-eration, governance issue, fuel adjustment,adding that the government should provideincentive to IPPs for generating power inpeace. India, China and Russia are generat-ing huge quantity of alternative energy butPakistan is still lagging behind in this regard.

“The coal power generation in thecountry should be boosted as it is cheap.There is also need to revise NEPRA tariff,while subsidies and bill collection issuesare also hitting power sector hard,” he said.Whole system should be restructured toboost power sector, he added.

He called for creation of energy min-istry to resolve power crisis and other is-sues amicably. He said that privatisation ofDiscos and Gencos was also mandatory asthe government could not tackle all issuesitself. “We should rehabilitate Gencos forpower conservation. It is private sectorwhich is boosting production but not thepublic sector,” he added.

Nasim A Khan, Osmani Associates ex-ecutive director, said wind energy was notbeing utilised despite it has more potential.

He stressed the need to install more windand other alternative energy projects acrossPakistan.

Umer Yaqoob said financing was amajor hurdle in energy projects installa-tion. There was need to launch power proj-ects on public private partnership basis, headded. Sindh Youth Affairs Minister Ha-roon Farooqui said there was need to en-courage youth because they were theimportant segment of the society whoplayed a major role in development. He as-

sured full cooperation for boosting alterna-tive energy sector.

Zubair Malik, president FPCCI, saidthat electricity was very important for de-velopment, adding that steps should betaken to generate alternative energy to meetpower needs of the country.

Current debt, governance, price adjust-ment and other issues facing power sectorbe addressed on priority basis, he said. It isprivate sector that is doing business effec-tively as compared to government. Hecalled for providing power supply to indus-tries for their sustainability and economicstability of the country. “We will not allowindustries shift,” he said.

Earlier, in his welcome address, NFEHchief Naeem Qureshi thanked the guestsand highlighted the energy updates role inpower sector. He said that energy updatesraises awareness about new power genera-tion trends and also raises issues facing thepower sector. He stressed the need forshifting to alternative energy projects forsocio-economic uplift of the country. Be-sides, Secretary Youth Affairs DepartmentSindh Naila Wajid also spoke on the occa-sion. On the occasion, awards were pre-sented to Hamdard University and otherorganisations for presenting best projectsfor alternative energy.

INTRODUCE MORE IPPS TO CURB POWER OUTAGES: MOOT

LHC lifts the bar of Wathra fromworking as SBP deputy governor

IPPS ADVISORY COUNCILHEAD SAYS IT’S NEED OFHOUR TO TAKE EFFECTIVESTEPS TO PRODUCEALTERNATIVE POWER

KARACHI: Haroon Farooqui, minister for youth affairs and sports, Naila

Wajid, secretary youth affairs, and Mr and Mrs Naeem Qureshi at the

International Power Generation Conference 2013 on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO

KARACHI

APP

FPCCI is keen to hold a single-countryexhibition in Moscow and will send ahigh-level trade delegation there to pro-vide opportunities to Pakistani ex-porters to expand the volume of thecountry’s exports to Russia.

This was stated by Federation of Pak-istan Chambers of Commerce and Indus-try (FPCCI) President Zubair AhmedMalik at a meeting with Trade Represen-tative of the Russian Federation, Yury Ko-zlov. The Russian representative paid acourtesy call on Ahmed along with hisfour member team. The FPCCI presidentsaid Russia is a great potential market forPakistani products which needs to be ex-plored sufficiently. Both the sides ex-changed views on the bilateral economicrelations. They were not satisfied with thepresent volume of trade which they saiddoes not reflect a true picture of the 50-year friendship between the two countries.

Malik re-affirmed, “Russia will beour potential market during the currentyear and FPCCI will use all its resourcesto penetrate the Russian market.”

He emphasised that the national

Chambers of both countries should in-tensify their interaction and activate thePakistan-Russia Joint Business Councilformed by both National Chambers for

exploring the market potentials. Malikalso suggested Russian Representative toplay an instrumental role in organising aPak-Russia Joint Business Councilmeeting at the earliest for the private sec-tor of both the countries. He said furtherthat both the business communities couldformulate necessary recommendationsfor the promotion of bilateral trade andthe same could be presented in the JointMinisterial Commission (JMC), he said.

Malik said that the current volume ofbilateral trade between the two countriesis $542 million which is in favour of Pak-istan, but does not match in any way withthe potentials of the two countries. Malikalso emphasised the need for joint ventureinvestment in various fields, particularlyin power sector projects, exploration ofcoal and other mineral resources, hydro-electric power, ship-building, high-techmachinery, infrastructure, transport, ironand steel and railways, construction.

He suggested that both countriesshould join hands in economic activitieswithout any external pressure. PakistanSteel Mills is a symbol of friendship be-tween the two countries but after its es-tablishment no more mega project hasbeen undertaken by Russia in Pakistan.

Financialproblems mountpressure on PSO

ISLAMABAD

APP

The public sector oil marketing company –Pakistan State Oil (PSO) – is grappling withfinancial problems with whoppingreceivables of over Rs 126 billion fromvarious entities, necessitating solid steps bythe government to resolve the issue.The company spokesman said the PSO thatplayed a crucial role in maintaining smoothfuel supply across the country was facingliquidity problems because of the circulardebt, however, the official added it is goingahead successfully with its goals. Theofficial said despite receivables of over Rs126.803 billion against various entities, thePSO had ensured uninterrupted fuel supplywith adequate fuel stocks. The spokespersonsaid the PSO’s receivables as on April 09,among others included Rs 46.347 billionfrom WAPDA, Rs 53.093 billion fromHUBCO, Rs 10.670 billion from KAPCO,Rs 1.552 billion from PIA, Rs 12.064 billionfrom KESC, Rs 1.146 from IPP and Rs 1.303billion from the Pakistan Railways.According to experts, delay or non-paymentof these dues might mount pressure and givetough time to the PSO to pay Rs 34.837billion to the refineries and Rs 73.518 billionto the international suppliers.

FPCCI keen to hold singlecountry exhibition in Moscow

YURY KOZLOVTRADE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Russia gives 25 percentconcession to

Pakistani exporters on their products.

Election Commission of

Pakistan says thecommission has noobjection over theappointment as it

was an administrativematter of the Central Bank

FPCCI President Zubair Ahmed Malik

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BUSINESSWednesday, 10 April, 2013

Dawlance introducesDouble French Door (DFD)refrigeratorLAHORE: Dawlance, the no. 1 home appliances

brand in Pakistan today launched the world’s

largest Direct Cool refrigerator, Double French Door.

Dawlance is well known for providing reliable home

appliance solutions to its consumers and the new

Direct Cool Refrigerator range i.e. Double French

Door (DFD) & Top Mount (TM) is a new addition to

the family. Adding to its stylish exterior, this range

is equipped with durable stainless steel interior,

pillar-less design that can even store extra large

items and H-Zone technology to keep food fresher

for longer. Speaking at the launch, Hasan Jameel,

head of sales, Dawlance said, “The new Dawlance

DFD is in a class of its own and by introducing this

WORLD’s LARGEST DC RANGE; The Company is

contributing its bit in making PAKISTAN PROUD.

Dawlance always aspires to fulfil the need of the

consumers and the inspiration behind the world’s

largest Direct Cool Refrigerator was to fulfil the

need for bigger and better refrigeration. Each and

every feature of this range has been specially

designed in line with our consumer preferences and

the modern technology therefore the patents for

innovative features like easy door technology,

exclusive designs and H-Zone technology have

been applied”. PRESS RELEASE

BNU, Royal Society of Arts

and The Samosa present

Pakistan CallingLAHORE: On April 8, Royal Society of Arts (RSA)

and The Samosa’s project “Pakistan Calling” was

launched. For the first time Filmmakers from

Pakistan from two esteemed institutions were

hand-picked by RSA and The Samosa to represent

stories from Pakistan in Europe. The Department of

Theatre Film and Television, Beaconhouse National

University is one of the two chosen institutions for

a long-term partnership which will develop into a

touring Film Festival. Pakistan Calling is a platform

for films showing links between civil and cultural

organizations and communities in Pakistan and the

UK. These films explore some of the many pressing

social problems faced by Pakistan and shine a light

on, and support, some of the inspiring stories of

people and organizations tackling these issues.

Pakistan Calling aims to build community trust in

UK, and to support the creativity and energy of the

British Pakistani diasporas and others working

between Britain and Pakistan. This is a unique

platform to create a dialogue with the global

community from an indigenously Pakistani

perspective. The platform will host a plethora of

new films uploaded on a monthly basis by

emerging Pakistani filmmakers for an entire year

which will be archived and select movies will be

featured on the tour. PRESS RELEASE

PakWheels winning

it all…

LAHORE: PakWheels.com, Pakistan’s no.1

automobile portal was honored with “Excellence in

IT Enabled Services” byTeradata at the 11th Annual

Tera Data IT excellence awards ceremony

held at Islamabad on Sunday. It was the first time

that PakWheels.com has participated in these

awards. Teradata National IT Excellence Awards are

the most prestigious IT awards in Pakistan since

their launch in 2000. These awards have now

become an integral part of the IT industry

recognizing various professionals associated with

the field of Information Technology (IT) – be it ,

researchers, electronic and print media journalists,

university students, exporters, educationalists,

pioneers in the disciplines of IT and achievers.

Since its launch in 2003, PakWheels.com has

simplified car buying and selling in Pakistan. It

empowers the Pakistani car consumer to make

informed car buying decisions with exhaustive and

unbiased information on cars through expert

reviews, comparisons, detailed specifications and

other tools to help consumers choose the right

vehicle for their needs. Earlier this year, the

website was further simplified to enhance the user

experience and provide easier navigation. Insights

from user behavior on the site were used to

improve the website’s homepage thereby, making

navigation easier and more functional. Design and

navigational changes made simplify a user’s

research for favourite cars and also provide an

amazing user experience. The new website, warmly

welcomed by the users, is the first of many

endeavours to come this year to simplify car buying

for Pakistan buyers. PRESS RELEASE

Pepsi signs deal with

Johnny RocketsKARACHI: Pepsico has always tried to provide the

best of its products to bring smiles on faces and the

company has always been an integral part of food

business in Pakistan, Jahanzeb Qayum Khan,

Country Manager Beverages, Pepsico said here on

Monday. Jahanzeb Khan was addressing a

ceremony organized here by Pepsico International.

During the ceremony an agreement was

signedbetween Pepsi and Johnny Rockets whereas

Pepsi will be the exclusive beverage partner for the

world renowned restaurant brand. Abdul Wahab -

Chairman Bandhani Group of Companies, Mr.

Monavar K. Ahmad – CEO and Mr. Abid Shah –

Group Coordinator. Whereas, Mr. Jahanzeb Qayum

Khan, Mr. Yaser Ghani, Ms. Romana Aziz Khan , Mr.

Mohammad Khosa, Mr. Adnan Abbasi and Mr. Awais

Amin were also present there at the occasion.

PepsiCo will provide beverages for all Johnny

Rockets’ outlets in Pakistan. Romana A. Khan,

PepsiCo Director said at the occasion, “Providing

our customers with the best in class beverages

remains PepsiCo’s key focus.”

Monavar K. Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer,

revealed, “Johnny Rockets is known worldwide to

deliver great experience in terms of burgers,

shakes and overall customer experience. We are

confident that Johnny Rockets will be a distinct

addition in the Pakistan food Industry”. Hamdan

International is the Franchisee in Pakistan for Johnny

Rockets, an international chain of themed American

restaurants, whose concept is to create a classic

American restaurant atmosphere. Famous for its

burgers and shakes, the staff at some locations is

also known for its singing and dancing every half-

hour. The making of a smiley face with ketchup on

the paper plate that’s served with French fries is a

Johnny Rockets trademark that creates smiles every

day on millions of faces worldwide. PRESS RELEASE

Mobilink introduces

‘Twitter Zero’ to PakistanLAHORE: Mobilink has launched ‘Twitter Zero’ as

means of enhancing the benefits of mobile internet

services for its subscribers. This service is launched

free of any internet changes for mobile internet

users usingmobile.twitter.com through their native

internet browser or opera mini on their handsets.

Twitter Zero is launched by Mobilink in collaboration

with Twitter to offer its subscribers the power of

connectivity and real-time sharing on Twitter. The

service will benefit a large number of users as

Twitter has 1.9 million users across Pakistan. As

Pakistan’s premier mobile network, Mobilink aims

to keep its subscribers at par with global trends

and happenings. This partnership with Twitter is yet

another step towards creating mobile internet

savvy users connected to the world in real time.

Farid Ahmed, Vice President Marketing, Mobilink

highlighted “Mobilink has always been at the

forefront of promoting the constructive use of

Social Media. With the introduction of ‘Twitter Zero’

Mobilink aims to give unlimited and free of cost

access to subscribers of Twitter with the strength of

Mobilink’s seamless mobile internet. The

elimination of any mobile internet charges will

increase the benefit this offer extends to our mobile

internet users.’ PRESS RELEASE

CORPORATE CORNER

02

B

No shortage of natural resources in

Pakistan. — Federal Minister for

Industries Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUnilever Food SPOT 4648.00 4880.40 4648.00 4880.40 232.40 40Rafhan Maize XD 3979.50 4178.47 4178.47 4178.47 198.97 20Bata (Pak) XD 1575.00 1653.75 1599.00 1653.75 78.75 2,500Wyeth Pak Ltd XD 1031.94 1083.53 1070.00 1083.53 51.59 550Sapphire Textile 263.00 275.00 275.00 275.00 12.00 100

Major LosersColgate Palmolive 2050.00 2000.00 1999.00 1999.00 -51.00 100Shezan Inter. 452.00 430.00 429.40 429.40 -22.60 400Sunrays Textile 230.00 220.00 218.50 219.25 -10.75 1,000Exide (PAK) 376.00 371.00 367.00 370.19 -5.81 1,200Clariant PaK. XD 259.99 259.99 254.00 254.48 -5.51 5,700

Volume Leaders

Engro Corporation 136.30 142.62 137.10 142.06 5.76 15,183,300Wateen Telecom Ltd 4.35 4.69 4.40 4.46 0.11 10,798,500Maple Leaf Cement 19.05 19.75 19.15 19.32 0.27 8,149,000Pak Elektron Ltd. 10.05 11.05 9.95 10.05 0.00 5,773,500Lafarge Pakistan 6.90 7.12 6.92 6.99 0.09 5,751,000

Interbank RatesUSD PKR 98.4100GBP PKR 150.7543JPY PKR 0.9946EURO PKR 128.3955

ForexBUY SELL

UK Pound Sterling 148.5 149.5Euro 125.75 126.25Australian Dollar 102.35 102.55US Dollar 98.80 99.05Canadian Dollar 96.4 96.65China Yuan 13.5 14Japanese Yen 1.0084 1.0189Saudi Riyal 26.15 26.4UAE Dirham 26.5 26.75

Asia’s future prosperityrequires major changein energy use: ADB

ISLAMABAD

APP

ASIA is moving along a dan-gerously unsustainableenergy path that will re-sult in environmentaldisaster and a gaping

divide in energy access betweenrich and poor unless the regiondramatically changes course, saysa new Asian Development Bank(ADB) report.

Asia’s Energy Challenge, the spe-cial theme chapter in ADB’s Asian Devel-opment Outlook 2013 (ADO 2013) releasedTuesday, highlights the complex balancing act theregion faces to deliver energy to all its citizens whilescaling back its reliance on fossil fuels.

If by 2035 Asia merely expands energy accesswithout fundamentally changing the way it con-

sumes, the report predicts the region’s oil consump-tion will double, natural gas consumption will triple,and coal consumption will rise a whopping 81 per-cent, with costly and devastating environmental im-pacts. Asia’s limited indigenous energy resourcespresent an additional challenge. With only 9 percentof proven global oil reserves, the region is currentlyon track to almost triple oil imports by 2035, ren-dering it significantly more vulnerable to externalsupply shocks. In Asia, 1.8 billion people still relyon wood and other traditional fuel as their primaryenergy source, it adds. Since modern energy access

is essential for their social and economic ad-vancement, Asia must find the political

will and innovation to scrap outdatedpolicies and recalibrate its energymix. For one, policymakers willneed to replace general fuel sub-sidies that artificially lower thecost of power and impose hugefiscal burdens with targeted subsi-

dies for the poor. The report suggests eliminating

wasteful subsidies worldwide wouldalso lower CO2 emissions by 2.6 billion

tons in 2035. Carefully designed support for re-newable energy technologies should be stepped up.Next generation wind, solar and biofuel technolo-gies, which are expected to be more cost competi-tive than current options and do not compete withfood crops, offer potential solutions.

ISLAMABAD: Hassan Domki, federal minister for food security, being briefed by Pakistan Oil Seed

Development Board Managing Director Syed Nashir Ali during his visit to the Board office. STAFF PHOTO

US, Pakistani

scientists working

to protect cotton

from disease

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

Last week, a high-level delegation of UScotton scientists visited Pakistan toreview progress and plan new strategieswith Pakistani counterparts to fight thecotton leaf curl virus (CLCV), adevastating disease that affects cottonyields in Pakistan and caused the loss ofan estimated 1.5 million bales or 15percent of this year’s total harvest, saysa press release issued here by USembassy. The team visited labs inLahore and Faisalabad and observedexperimental disease-resistant cottonbreeds grown in greenhouses providedby the US Department of Agriculture(USDA). The visit is part of a multi-yearcollaboration with Pakistani scientists todevelop CLCV resistant seed. Thiscooperation is a prime example of thework the US does to enhance theproductivity of Pakistan’s agriculturalsector, especially for small farmers. DrBrian Scheffler, USDA’s lead scientist inthe Cotton Productivity EnhancementProgramme (CPEP), was impressed withthe progress that Pakistani counterpartsat the National Agriculture ResearchInstitute (NARC), the University ofPunjab Institute of AgriculturalSciences, the Central Cotton Institute inMultan and Sakarand.

REPORT SUGGESTSELIMINATING WASTEFULSUBSIDIES WORLDWIDE WILLALSO LOWER CO2 EMISSION BY2.6 BILLION TONNES IN 2035

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