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Power Outages Hobble Pakistan’s Biggest Exporters

Muhammad Latif stays in his neat office these days, upstairs from the vast textile factory he founded in 1975. Until a few years ago, he says, his business, Chenab Ltd., made high-end sportswear and bed linen for some of America’s best-known retailers, from Macy’s to Tommy Hilfiger to Victoria’s Secret, in this industrial city in central Pakistan. A workforce that peaked at 14,000 fed rolls of cloth into state-of-the art Italian and German machines or sewed garments on sprawling automated production lines. Today, crippled by the shortages of electricity that have paralyzed this country in the past five years, most of the machinery stands idle, and the staff has shrunk to 4,500. Sales for the year ended in June are down nearly 75% to 2.17 billion Pakistani rupees, or about $20 million, from 2008, according to the company. “I don’t go downstairs. I get depressed there,” Mr. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Power Outages Hobble Pakistan's Biggest Exporters

Muhammad Latif stays in his neat office these days, upstairs from the vast textile factory he founded in 1975. Until a few years ago, he says, his business, Chenab Ltd., made high-end sportswear and bed linen for some of America’s best-known retailers, from Macy’s to Tommy Hilfiger to Victoria’s Secret, in this industrial city in central Pakistan. A workforce that peaked at 14,000 fed rolls of cloth into state-of-the art Italian and German machines or sewed garments on sprawling automated production lines. Today, crippled by the shortages of electricity that have paralyzed this country in the past five years, most of the machinery stands idle, and the staff has shrunk to 4,500. Sales for the year ended in June are down nearly 75% to 2.17 billion Pakistani rupees, or about $20 million, from 2008, according to the company. “I don’t go downstairs. I get depressed there,” Mr. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pakistan Breaks Ground on Nuclear Power Plant Project With China

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday ceremonially broke ground on a $9.59 billion nuclear power complex to be built in Karachi with China’s help, seeking to ease Pakistan’s long-running energy crisis and signaling a new step by China in becoming a top nuclear supplier. The deal, which officials said was still being finalized, is a major new advance in energy cooperation between the two countries, dwarfing previous reactor projects built along with China at Chashma, in Pakistan’s interior. And it establishes a growing counterpoint to a nuclear axis between the United States and India in recent years that Pakistani officials have seen as an irritant and Chinese officials have seen as a geopolitical challenge. “The beginning of the 2,200-megawatt power project is indeed a proud moment in the energy history of Pakistan,” Mr. Sharif said at the ceremony, adding that the construction was to be completed […]

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Pakistan sees hope for Iranian gas pipeline

A Pakistani government official said a breakthrough nuclear deal with Tehran may breathe new life into a natural gas pipeline planned from Iran. “We hope the agreement between Iran and the world powers would revive confidence of countries like China and Russia to finance the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project,” the official told The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, Monday. Iran and delegates from the so-called P5-plus-1 nations — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — in concert with the European Union, reached a landmark nuclear deal in Geneva, Switzerland, last weekend. Under the terms of the agreement, Iran agreed to suspend certain parts of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions. “We are hopeful that those [foreign finance] institutions would have some confidence and they would sponsor the [pipeline] project after Iran and Western nations inked the […]

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U.S., Pakistani officials to discuss energy issues

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) — A U.S. State Department official in charge of energy policy aims to help tackle Pakistan’s energy woes with visiting Pakistani officials, the department said. Carlos Pascual, U.S. coordinator for international energy affairs, is part of a group scheduled to meet Tuesday with Pakistani Minister of Natural Resources Shahid Abassi and Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif. The meeting is part of a strategic energy dialogue announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his August visit to Pakistan. “This working group fosters cooperation on Pakistan’s energy sector, including power generation, renewable energy, gas, and reform priorities,” the State Department announced Sunday. Pakistan’s aging infrastructure and energy sector mismanagement have left most the country without a reliable source of electricity, observers say. The State Department said the U.S. government helped Pakistan add 1,000 megawatts of power to its grid since 2009. Pakistan’s interest in […]

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Pakistan 'ready to deliver nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia'

Intelligence sources say Pakistan-made nuclear weapons ready for delivery to Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to counter Iran’s atomic programme, but Islamabad says claims ‘baseless’ Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also dismissed the allegations as “baseless”, as did General Hamid Gul, a former head of the ISI intelligence service. Saudi officials have long told their American allies that they planned to obtain atomic weapons if Iran went nuclear. The latest reports suggests they could be ready even sooner. Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden last month that if Iran got the bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring”. Pakistan declared itself as a nuclear armed state in 1998 with its first test. It has never signed up non-proliferation agreements and has […]

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Pakistan ‘ready to deliver nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia’

Intelligence sources say Pakistan-made nuclear weapons ready for delivery to Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to counter Iran’s atomic programme, but Islamabad says claims ‘baseless’ Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also dismissed the allegations as “baseless”, as did General Hamid Gul, a former head of the ISI intelligence service. Saudi officials have long told their American allies that they planned to obtain atomic weapons if Iran went nuclear. The latest reports suggests they could be ready even sooner. Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden last month that if Iran got the bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring”. Pakistan declared itself as a nuclear armed state in 1998 with its first test. It has never signed up non-proliferation agreements and has […]

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Iran frustrated with gas line for Pakistan

TEHRAN, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Pakistan needs to live up to its end of the bargain for a cross-border natural gas pipeline planned from Iran, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said. Majedi was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying the Iranian government wasn’t going to help cover the cost of building the pipeline in Pakistani territory. “We did not make such a commitment to help Pakistan with $2 billion for the construction of the pipeline,” he said Monday. Iran has expressed concern about the project, in the planning stages for decades, because of economic uncertainty from its Pakistani counterparts. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted by Fars as saying last week the nullification of the contract “for supplying gas to Pakistan is likely.” Iran’s Western adversaries oppose the pipeline because of the economic benefits it would bring Tehran. Washington, in particular, favors a […]

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Iranian official says Iran doing its part on gas pipeline to Pakistan

TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Iran has done most of the work needed to get a troubled gas pipeline developed for the Pakistani market, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. “Iran has done a major part of the work [necessary] for the implementation of the project and now Iran’s gas has reached near the border with Pakistan with a high capacity,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying in a Press TV report Sunday. Zanganeh questioned the prospects for the pipeline last week, saying Pakistan was having trouble financing construction of the pipeline in its territory. Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Pakistani lawmaker Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani as saying the pipeline “must be completed.” Pakistan’s aging infrastructure and energy sector mismanagement have left most the country without a reliable source of electricity, observers say. The U.S. government warned Pakistan earlier this year the pipeline would violate sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector. U.S. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple