All CNG stations across Sindh will remain closed for 72 hours

All the compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across Sindh will remain closed for 72 hours from Monday (Feb 1).

A spokesperson for the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) said gas filling stations will remain shut for 72 hours from 8 am on Monday till 8 am on Thursday (Feb 4) across the province.

A notification regarding CNG stations closure has been issued.

The country faces a shortfall of gas in winter, forcing the government to cut gas supply to CNG stations and industries while domestic consumer are supplied gas on priority.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the PM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar had said the country faced a dramatic decline in the domestic gas production this year. He said the government had suspended gas supply to CNG stations but domestic consumers will be given priority.

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Energy ministry announced contracts with 18 new IPPs for cheaper electricity in country

The energy ministry has announced contracts with 18 new independent power producers (IPPs) including wind power units, for cheaper electricity in the country.

According to the details on the development shared by sources, the government team has had successful deals with 18 new IPPs, including Kot Addu Power Company (KAPCO) for 1600 Mega Watt generation, for affordable electricy.

All 18 IPPs have agreed to signing government contracts out of which 17 are wind power units.

According to the contract, which is set to be signed between the government and these IPPs, slash in tariffs and other concessional terms have been concurred.

After the federal cabinet has consented to these contracts with IPPs, the official signing will take place instant, ARY News was told.

With these new 18 IPPs, the government has convinced about 41 IPPs, out of 47 that it talked to, for concessional terms and economical power supply.

It may be noted that earlier last week, the energy ministry hiked electricity tariffs by Rs1.95 per unit which it claimed is due to a hefty circular debt thanks to previous governments.

We could jack the prices by Rs2.18 per unit but we did not want to “burden the masses” so we only increased 23 per cent in tariff, said the federal minister for energy Omar Ayub in a joint presser today accompanied by the federal planning minister Asad Umer and Prime Minister’s aide on energy Tabish Gauhar.

Ayub said the incumbent government has inherited the circular debt crisis for which it is binding on it to hike the tariffs and translate the impact on the masses. Due to the heavy debts in the energy sector, which he termed a minefield, we had no other option but to expedite clearing off the payables, he said.

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PAF special aircraft departed for Beijing to bring Covid-19 vaccine

A special aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) departed for Beijing on Sunday to bring the first batch of a China-made Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), all arrangements for storage, transportation and administration of the vaccine have been finalised.

It said all measures for vaccine distribution across Sindh and Balochistan provinces have also been finalised.

The NCOC said a special vaccination centre has been set up in Islamabad while such centres in all provinces at a district-level are yet to be established.

China had promised to gift 500,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.

A day earlier, Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that Pakistan will likely get 17 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine by March.

Turning to social media via his official Twitter handle, the federal minister announced, “Good news on covid vaccine front.” He added that Pakistan received a response letter from Covax which indicated “supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021”.

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Six passengers arrested for trying to travel providing fake COVID-19 test

As many as six passengers from Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar were taken into custody for trying to travel while presenting fake COVID-19 test reports.

According to details, a vigilance team of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and KP health department took action against six passengers after they were trying to travel abroad using fake reports of COVID-19 test.

The passengers were traveling from separate flights of the PIA and a private airline to Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain.

The passengers produced test reports to the authorities at the airport and on getting suspicious regarding their authenticity, the reports were checked and turned out to be fake.

The airlines did not issue boarding cards to the passengers and they were arrested over the forgery. They were later released after paying a fine but were not allowed to take the flight.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued strict SOPs for entering the nation-wide airports aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19.

According to details, after the implementation of the strict COVID-19 SOPs, many passengers were denied entry into the airports over violations.

“No one either the passengers or airport staffers will be allowed to enter the airports’ premises without a facemask,” the sources said adding that the airport managers are personally supervising the implementation.

They further said that all airlines have also been directed to comply with the SOPs and ensure that their staffers wear a facemask and warned that strict action would be taken over violations.

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PPP to oppose constitutional amendment bill in senate elections

Pakistan People’s Party has decided to oppose the government’s move for constitutional amendment bill to change the secret ballot vote in senate elections.

According to sources, PPP, one of the two major opposition parties in the parliament, has decided to contact with the parliamentary parties to oppose the change in the voting method by replacing existing secret ballot to open ballot vote, as proposed by the government for the upcoming senate polls.

A meeting of the opposition parties’ alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is also expected to consider over the proposed constitutional amendment bill.

Prime minister’s Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs, Babar Awan in a media talk on Thursday announced that the PTI government would table a bill of amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan in the Parliament next week.

It is to be mentioned here that a five-judge larger bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed hearing a presidential reference seeking opinion on open balloting for the upcoming Senate elections.

The bench, also comprising of Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Yahya Afridi, will conduct next hearing of the reference on February 2.

The reference was submitted by the Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan after getting approved by President Dr Arif Alvi under Article 186 of the Constitution.

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Court declares Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter, son-in-law proclaimed offenders in Saaf Pani corruption case

An accountability court declared Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia and son-in-law, Ali Imran, proclaimed offenders in Saaf Pani corruption case.

The court initiated the process of declaring the accused as proclaimed offenders over their continued non-appearance before the court.

The investigation officer has been directed to paste the advertisement in the AC, declaring Rabia and her husband Ali Imran as proclaimed offenders.

Both the accused have been named by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Saaf Pani corruption refernece.

Ali Imran, his wife Rabia and others are accused of denting the national exchequer Rs24.7 million in the Saaf Pani scam by giving the building of the project on rent.

According to the reference, Ali & Fatima Developers, a company of Ali Imran and Rabia illegally received the rent of the building which was even not completed and was under-construction.

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PIA issued travel advisory for visitors to Saudi Arabia

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has issued a travel advisory for visitors to Saudi Arabia and directed passengers to fill the new health declaration form.

A notification was issued by PIA’s Flight Services department which stated that the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) updated its health disclaimer form for all airlines operating in Saudi Arabia amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The national carrier ordered the staff to distribute the health declaration form onboard the flight to all passengers arriving at the kingdom with immediate effect.

Following the GACA instructions, the passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia have been asked by the PIA administration to fill and sign the mandatory health declaration form at the airport’s health control centres.

Earlier on Friday, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had extended a travel ban on passengers arriving from the United Kingdom (UK) other than Pakistani passport holders and updated its C category for international travel.

The new standard operating procedures (SOPs) had been issued by the Director Air Transport department of CAA according to which category C international passengers now have to show Covid-19 report upon arrival and they will undergo another Covid test in Pakistan.

The CAA had added six more countries to the C category list. South Africa, the UK, Portugal, Ireland and Brazil were the new countries included in category C.

It had notified the new categories, A & B, for international travels wherein 23 countries now qualify in the former category which means people travelling to Pakistan from them will not have to take the mandatory pre-boarding Covid test.

China, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and Australia are among the A-category countries according to CAA.

However, those coming from countries in the B travel category will have to make sure a negative Covid PCR report at maximum of 90 hours prior to boarding.

The rest of Covid SOPs will remain the same and their implementation will be mandatory, CAA said today. The new travel restrictions will remain in effect until February 28, 2021.

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