News Update Times

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) A leader in the real estate industry of Pakistan, Saima Builders officially announced the launch of their latest housing society, ZSZ Mid Town. Situated amid the Karachi-Hyderabad highway, the new venture aims at providing affordable housing for individuals and investors seeking economical options. The announcement was made earlier this month in Karachi.

After various successful projects in the construction and real estate business over the last few years, Saima Builders now seeks to grow deeper into providing affordable and convenient housing facilities to Pakistan’s ever-growing population. These include mega projects falling under the residential and commercial categories, such as ZSZ Mid Town. The ceremonial activities started in the afternoon and continued till midnight. With a greater influx of the general public and prospective buyers the event was prolonged till the end of the day. Saima Builders has great credibility in building a variety of construction projects, especially in Karachi. Therefore, despite being located away from the main city, ZSZ Mid Town experienced a massive downpour of potential buyers and investors looking to invest in affordable property.

With various projects all over Pakistan, Saima Builders thrives to work on multiple new ventures and deliver the best quality to its clients. Their Real Estate has now become a dynamic and progressive organization with a glorious past showing great promise for the future. With the help of a comprehensive regional network throughout Pakistan, Saima has become a leader in the industry.

Commenting on their latest venture, Zeeshan Saleem Zaki, Director, Saima Group commented, “Saima Real Estate has so far launched, developed and delivered innumerable flats, shops, villas, apartments, luxury condominiums, intricately sophisticated mega projects, high rise sky scrapers and trade towers. Our core focus has always been to give the best residential or even commercial results to our clients. We saw a need to provide a more affordable housing solution for the common man, hence we introduced ZSZ Mid Town. Rest assured, like all of our projects, we ensure both durability and finish while strictly adhering to our delivery schedules.”

Saima Group and their latest venture ZSZ is currently amidst working on numerous other projects. Details of each will be disclosed at a later date.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)  Pakistan’s leading large-scale engineering company, Descon Engineering Ltd. (DEL), has worked towards becoming a benchmark for the industry by achieving excellence in Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE). Recently, the company has been recognized for its safety standards by various clients. 

DEL received accolades from organizations across the Middle East and Pakistan. Some of them being: General Electric (G.E) and Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) in UAE, Shell and Q-Chem in Qatar, OQ in Oman, Lotte Chemicals and OGDCL in Pakistan. The organization has also shown its commitment to prioritizing the highest standard of HSE and zero loss time injury (LTIs). While remaining dedicated to this by maintaining the safety and health of all stakeholders, internal and external; as well as, ensuring that there is a safe return for everyone through focused leadership, engaged teams, and effective communication.

Speaking about the achievement, DEL’s CEO Taimur Saeed said, “DEL is honored to be recognized for its focus and efforts on safety of its workers. It is never easy to manage safety and that is why our teams have strategically designed mechanisms to demonstrate personal ownership of HSE matters through visible leadership at every level. We want to continue empowering all employees to actively report unsafe conditions and actions so that the HSE culture improves and becomes more transparent. We are proud of the work we are doing and remain committed to maintaining the same momentum going forward.”

Globally, HSE is considered a top priority due to its significance in safeguarding human lives and properties, especially in high-risk industrial sectors. The organization has continued to work with this Dedication by integrating HSE and behavioral safety for sustainable growth in its business processes and has designed a specialized central framework that promotes accountability. The brand continues to participate in multiple certifications to encourage participation, consultation and behaviors on HSE-related matters.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The Board of Directors of Meezan Bank, in its 100^th Board meeting held on October 19th, 2022 approved the financial statements of the Bank for the nine months period ended September 30, 2022. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Riyadh S.A. A. Edrees – Chairman of the Board, Mr. Faisal A. A. A. Al – Nassar – Vice Chairman of the Board was also present. 

On this occasion, the Bank’s Shariah Board comprising of Chairman Shariah Board, Justice (Retd) Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Vice Chairman – Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani, Member Board – Sheikh Esam Mohamed Ishaq and Resident Shariah Board Member – Mufti Muhammad Naveed Alam also met the Board of Directors of the Bank and discussed various matters.

The Board has approved interim cash dividend of Rs 2.00 per share (20%) for the third quarter. This brings the total cash dividend payout for the nine months to Rs 5.50 (55%) per share along with 10% bonus shares. The Bank’s profit after tax increased to Rs 28.6 billion compared to Rs 19.6 billion in the corresponding period last year, reflecting a 46% growth. The Bank remains well-capitalised with Capital Adequacy Ratio of 19.11% – well above minimum requirement of 12.50%.

Total deposits of the Bank grew year-on-year by 23% to Rs 1.66 trillion. The Bank expanded its geographical presence to 940 branches in more than 307 cities along with 1,000 plus ATMs during the nine months period. The Bank’s Mobile Banking App remains the highest-rated Mobile App in the banking industry on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Total assets of the Bank crossed Rs 2.5 trillion, registering a 44% growth over September, 2021. The Bank’s non-performing financing ratio remained at an exemplary level of 1.5%. The Bank maintains a comfortable level of provisions against its non-performing financings with a coverage ratio of 154% – one of the highest in the banking industry.  Gross financings registered a 40% growth from September, 2021 closing at Rs 873 billion with Gross Advances to Deposits Ratio (ADR) of 53%. During the nine months period, the Bank made additional general provision of Rs 1.75 billion against any potential non-performing financings in view of the current economic slowdown and recent unprecedented floods.

Lahore (Zahid Chughati) Pakistan needs to formulate an agricultural policy through consultation of all stakeholders such as academia, industry and farmers while approval of new varieties should be assigned to a ‘Panel of experts’ having representation of all agricultural universities to provide a level playing field to private sector against the breeders in the public sector. If ensured, this can lead to the country a green revolution in the next three years, said Jawed Qureshi Chairman former Chairman of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and head of a leading industrial group Four Brothers dealing in seed, pesticides and other agricultural inputs. “It is strange that public sector breeders have been assigned the duty to approve or disapprove new varieties by the private sector. It makes both competitors of each other and the public sector creates hurdles in the way of private companies so their own performance should not be questioned. If the government is itself selling seed then how can they let the private sector flourish,” questioned Jawed Saleem. He was speaking at a discussion arranged by the Agricultural Journalists Association (AJA) here on Saturday. FPCCI Regional Chairman and CEO Four Brothers Nadeem Qureshi and AJA President Almas Ahmad Khan were also present on this occasion. Jawed Qureshi said Pakistan currently is lagging behind in per acre yield in all the major and minor crops from the rest of the world because of not having indigenous seeds compatible with our climate and weather patterns. He claimed that a staple length of 27.5 mm is considered super cotton in four leading cotton-producing countries including India, China, US and Australia but in Pakistan, a seed having a lower than 28 mm staple length is not approved at all. He proposed that a committee comprising agriculturists and scientists from different agricultural universities should be formulated should approve the new varieties. He said that the seed sector had even proposed that parameters set by leading crop producers should be introduced in Pakistan to approve the new varieties. Jawed said it was the introduction of hybrid rice seed by the private sector which pushed our rice per acre yield upward. Pakistan is importing palm oil or oilseed worth US$ 6.5 billion per annum. He alleged that the import mafia discouraged the local production of good-yield oilseed. However, he claimed that their company had developed a new canola seed called “Cazola” which is very popular among the farmers now and we hope that we would be self-sufficient in canola oil by 2025. He said floods also proved a blessing in disguise as farmers in flood-hit areas are opting for canola over wheat seed. He stressed the need for changing the mechanism of giving subsidies. For example, he said there are 227,000 agricultural tube wells throughout Punjab while the federal and provincial government extends a subsidy of Rs 72 billion to these in electricity tariff. He said instead of it, the government should utilize this subsidy amount for the installation of solar systems on these tube wells and there will be no need of extending the subsidy to these tube wells in three years. Instead, that subsidy amount can be spent on the development of agriculture. He brushed away the impression that Pakistan’s soil is not good. Still, he said our farmers should also see which variety is giving good yields in their own village or surrounding village instead of running to those varieties which are performing high in other provinces or regions. Jawed Saleem Qureshi also said that there should be no politics in agriculture rather we should promote those crops in those regions, which are suitable for them. He said the Potohar area is very good for cotton as the yield and size of the crop are good as per their experiments in that region. He also called that the electronic media should give more time to agriculture in prime-time talk shows as is done in other countries, which he thinks, would also strengthen and develop this sector.

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Zong 4G, Pakistan’s leading mobile telecommunications network, held an event on other day at its headquarters to demonstrate the network’s excellence during recent times and to honor those who made significant contributions towards fulfilling this agenda.

More than one-third of the nation has been impacted by the recent floods. The country’s telecommunications industry has also suffered as the dire consequences of flood. This is on top of the industry’s already vulnerable position in relation to the country’s broader macroeconomic status. Floods in Pakistan disrupted over 12% of CMPAK’s network. As a result, the company has spent most of the last few months working fervently to ensure that its customers have continuous connectivity.

Zong realizes its customers’ critical need to stay connected with their family and loved ones during such uncertain times. Therefore, despite operating in difficult, often dangerous, flood-stricken locations, Zong’s network crew has worked tirelessly to ensure that Zong’s customers continue to enjoy world-class network services.

Incredible teamwork has always been at the heart of Zong’s network team, and this has been proved in recent days. While a section of Zong’s technical network team was involved in network restoration activities on the ground, another part of the team was dedicated to continuously enhancing the quality of the network to make it the best and first choice for customers. Even during such trying circumstances, Zong’s technical staff managed to perform network improvement campaigns with targeted advancements in various sectors.

To recognize and reward the network team’s efforts, an event was organized at Zong headquarters. Individuals and teams, who had key contributions towards Zong’s network excellence, were presented with awards at the occasion. This occasion was attended by several dignitaries, including the Chinese Ambassador, Provincial Minister for Environmental Coastal Development, the Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication, as well as members of Zong’s higher management.

“I am extremely proud of our technical employees who remained on their toes, day and night, to restore network in areas which were completely submerged in flood-water and where the infrastructure was damaged,” Zong CEO Mr Wang Hua said at the event. “Our teams recovered 99% of the CMPak network in three weeks, which is a commendable effort.”

Minister of IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque applauded the network’s superlative quality during this time of crisis. Speaking at the occasion, he said “Zong has shown remarkable resilience and will in the face of adversity, demonstrating excellent leadership in network restoration in flood-affected areas. The work done by the technical staff has been excellent and should be commended.”

Zong’s goal for the future is to continuously improve and evolve so that it can provide its customers with the best network services possible, which is especially significant in the current economic climate.