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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan LNG Ltd has launched a mid- and a long-term tender to purchase a combined 240 shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the company said on its website.

The mid-term tender covers a period of five years and calls for 60 shipments, while the long-term tender is for 15 years and 180 cargoes, according to information presented in the tender note.

Suppliers must submit bids by Dec 20.

A LONG journey might be about to end for Abraaj Group, the Dubai-based private equity fund that had made the bold move of acquiring a majority stake and management control in the beleaguered Karachi Electric Supply Company back in 2009. Those were troubled days as everyone remembers, when the first-ever privatisation of a power utility in Pakistan was floundering. Nobody really understood what Abraaj was up to and the move was met with a heavy dose of scepticism at the time. The new management took control at a time when the utility, renamed K-Electric, had been abandoned by its management, rolling blackouts in Karachi were a daily occurrence and a bruising battle with the state-owned power utility Pepco, which supplied almost half of the city’s power, had just seen a massive disconnection that cut off the power supply to the entire city.

Given the circumstances in which the acquisition was made, the positive track record of the Abraaj-led team must be acknowledged. It has restored the utility to profitability and brought load-shedding under control, even if through the morally dubious policy of increasing the incidence of load-shedding in areas that had been designated by it as ‘high loss’. They have weathered some powerful storms along the way, from rains and heatwaves that led to prolonged blackouts, labour unrest and more bruising conflict with government departments that did not pay their bills, to clashes with the Ministry of Water and Power. But to its credit, unlike the management that preceded it, the team did not give up and persevered through it all to reach this point.

Now comes the time for Abraaj to enjoy the fruits of its efforts, and the prize is a substantial one at $1.7bn for divestment of its 66.4pc stake, described by Abraaj as “one of the largest private-sector transactions in Pakistan”. At this time, it is imperative to bear in mind that there is a strong and abiding public interest in this transaction. So even though it is a ‘private transaction’, there is a significant role for public authorities to play. The public interest lies in determining whether the improvement in the utility’s affairs is being evenly experienced by all segments of the city’s population or whether it is a reality only for the elites whose neighbourhoods have seen an uninterrupted supply of power and the bulk of the investment made in system upgrades during the last seven years. It is also in ensuring that the new investor, Shanghai Electric Power, has the capacity to operate in Pakistan, where some amount of transparency and disclosure is the norm. The deal is still subject to approval from the state, and these matters ought to be thoroughly vetted before the Abraaj management is allowed to walk off with its prize.

LAHORE – All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has asked the government to avoid disruptive policies that impact construction growth in the country as the cement industry growth in directly linked to speedy execution of infrastructure projects in the country.

“Industry hopes that the slow growth in domestic consumption in September 2016 is a one off phenomenon, triggered by the new property valuation policy of the government.
It expects the domestic consumption will pick up once the valuation issue is settled or factored in by the investors,” the APCMA spokesman said.

The association urged the government to take further measures to encourage domestic construction sector which is the main source of employment to the non-skilled workforce of the country.
According to data released by APCMA, during the first quarter of current fiscal year, the cement industry has posted a growth of 9.
50 percent in local despatches compared with local despatches during first quarter of last fiscal year.
Exports also recorded a growth of 3.
03 percent compared with exports during the first quarter of last year.
The overall situation during first quarter of current fiscal year showed an 8.
33 percent growth compared to the same period of last fiscal year.

During first quarter – July-September 2016 – the cement industry despatched 8.
976 million tons of cement, while during the corresponding period of July-September 2015 the total despatches were 8.
286 million tons.
Capacity utilisation during the first quarter of this fiscal is 79%, an increase of 7% compared with corresponding period last year.

The APCMA spokesman said that domestic despatches in September 2016 were 2.
536m tons registering a growth of 2pc while the exports amounted to 0.
523m tons reflecting growth of 11.
79 percent, compared to Sept2015.

Total cement despatches in September amounted to 3.
059 million tons depicting a growth of 3.
55 percent.

LAHORE – As many as 44 representatives of 25 countries on Tuesday visited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and had an interactive session with the private sector representatives.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Kalabagh Dam, regional trade, energy, women empowerment, Orange Train project and bilateral trade with African region were the topics that came under discussion.

LCCI President Abdul Basit said that CPEC was a game-changer project for Pakistan and its generations.
CPEC was part of One-Belt-One-Road plan to establish close land and maritime links among 60 plus countries across Asia and Europe.
Its motivating force is prosperity and the partner countries are focusing on investment in our region, he said.
He added that once it is complete, it is estimated that the volume of intra-trade among these countries would reach $2.
5 trillion.

The LCCI president said that Gwadar Port is going to play the pivotal role in development of Western region of China, adding the infrastructure development currently going on in Pakistan in major areas like power sector, roads and railways network etc has kick-started the process of economic recovery.
These projects will accelerate investment, trade and economic growth in Pakistan, and help to stabilize the country, he maintained.

“We believe that greater success cannot be achieved without fullest participation of the private sectors from both countries especially engaging small and medium-sized enterprises.

“We want our government to ensure that Pakistani companies are given more opportunities to interact closely with Chinese companies so that there is a win-win situation for everyone,” Abdul Basit said.

Abdul Basit said: “We are known as resilient nation and we have learnt the art of surviving in any situation.
Some experts predict that in next 20 years, Pakistan will fall among the trillion dollar economies.
” Through right policies, Pakistan can become a regional trade and energy corridor, he added.

LCCI Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan said that growing gap between revenue and expenditure has increased the vulnerability of fiscal framework, requiring the federal and provincial governments to tighten belt with a view to putting economy on track.

He said that the LCCI was making all-out efforts to give boost to business and economic activities in the country.
To achieve the goal, it is holding seminars and inviting foreign delegations to Pakistan, he added.

Head of the delegation Brig Hammad spoke about the importance of the private sector for the economic turnaround of the country while the visiting diplomats also asked a number of question ranging from economic situation of the country to the LCCI role.

LCCI former president Sohail Lashari, Executive Committee members Mian Zahid Jawaid, Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, Shahid Nazeer, Moazzam Rasheed, Javed Iqbal Siddiqui and former Executive Committee Member Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian were also present in the meeting.