Top 50 Countries of the World

There is a survey in 2010 by a company to find out the top 50 best cities of the world.


At the number 1 Place there is the city of Austria.
London is on number 15.
Unfortunately there is no city in the list form Pakistan and India.
China and may be Japan is successful to make there place at the number 49 or 50.
The survey team rate the cities on the basis of the economical conditions as well as the people,weather,politics,production,environment,peace,hospitals,police stations, and other basic needs plus extra facilities are the main points to make their survay.

Pakistan Electricity crisis

The latest and perhaps the most troublesome crisis faced by the Pakistani nation these days is the shortage in supply of electricity. The country is facing a huge electric power crisis these days. Though it has been more than a year since when the country is facing this crisis, but till now no proper solution has been made to this problem neither any proper planning has come into existence since the symptoms and begging of this short supply of electricity. While rolling blackouts or load shedding as it is locally known has always been a staple of daily life in Pakistan, the problem has become acute in the last couple of years.



This crisis appears insurmountable in the near or even long-term future, unless proper understanding and correct implementation is undertaken on priority basis. At present total power production capacity in the country is about 19,500 MW, out of which Hydel Power is only 6,500 MW, balance of 13,000 MW is thermal either using Natural Gas or Furnace Oil. Small capacity of 450 MW is Nuclear and only 150 MW is through coal.

It is very important to understand the consequence of the prevailing situation. Current price of furnace oil is about Rs.49,000 per ton, which amounts up to Rs.49/- per kg. On an average one kg of furnace oil produces 3.8 kWh of electricity. Thus, the cost of furnace oil for generating one unit of electricity is about Rs.13. On top of this the fixed cost of a thermal plant works out to be about Rs.3 per unit. Therefore, one unit (kWh) of the electricity produced by all thermal plants using furnace oil is Rs.16 per unit. According to WAPDA/IPP agreement, the private power producers will charge WAPDA the actual fuel cost for which they have a direct contract with PSO. As we all know that WAPDA tariff charged from the consumers is about Rs.5 per unit (kWh).



The production cost of furnace oil electricity is Rs.16 per unit, add to it the transmission, distribution cost (including loses), “the total cost of such electricity works out to approximately Rs.22 per kWh. The difference between WAPDA tariff and the furnace oil electricity is Rs.17 per kWh.” It is estimated that the country consumes at least 25 billion units of electricity produced annually through furnace oil, which amounts to the total deficit of Rs.425 Billion. If WAPDA has to balance its books it would require a subsidy of Rs.425 Billion. This deficit is somewhat reduced due to cheap power produced through hydel energy and natural gas, but the deficit cannot change substantially, unless bulk of electricity is produced through hydel energy. Obviously, a deficit of Rs.300-350 Billion cannot be sustained, the government does not have resources to pay such a huge subsidy, and it is also not feasible to increase the power tariff very much. Therefore the power crisis is far greater than what is being perceived. In the absence of extremely heavy subsidy, WAPDA is delaying payments to IPPs and also to the oil companies. The result is that IPPs are now producing much less electricity than their capacity.

In the second half of December last year, the situation got so bad that WAPDA & KESC (power generation entities in Pakistan) resorted to draconian levels of load shedding. The power cuts during this time amounted to 20-22 hours a day in most small cities and even cities like Karachi were seeing 18+ hours of load shedding.

To any planner, it should be obvious that the country cannot afford electricity produced through oil. Indigenous fuels like coal, gas, atomic will have to be developed and developed quickly.

Way Forward: Notwithstanding the systemic issues such as the failure to build new dams and previous Government’s inability to add even a single megawatt of new power to the grid during 9 years of its rule, it seems that the present crisis is a result of bad management and the lack of foresight. The total installed capacity of WAPDA and KESC totals around 19,500 megawatts. Almost two third of this power comes from thermal power plants (fossil fuels), one third is generated by water and about 2% comes from nuclear power plants.

In the short-term, the shortages have to be somehow met. The foremost immediate action which can give some relief is the conservation of energy. The government has already announced certain measures like shutting down power on billboards, hoardings and neon signs. Recently in Lahore super size televisions have been installed on important traffic points. In order to keep the temperature down air conditioners are installed behind these sets. In spite of government directions, the energy saving measures are not being implemented. Shops use excessive lights, which can be conveniently reduced. A suggestion that cities be divided in zones, and the market on these zones be closed on different days, can also save peak time energy usage. In order to implement conservation measures, the nazims, naib nazims should visit the areas and try to convince and negotiate with the people, shopkeepers etc. requesting them to cooperate in the individual interests as well as of the society at large.

At present the IPPs, and WAPDA owned thermal plants are averaging about 50 percent plant factor, which means that they are not being used to their potential level, 70 to 80 percent plant factor is quite feasible; this would require better maintenance of such plants. A higher plant factor on these power stations can provide 20 to 30 percent more energy, which will circumvent the present shortages to a certain extent. Improving the plant factor of the existing plants is far more economical then setting up new plants, although new plants will still be needed. One of the reasons for low plant factor is that the funds are not made available for the purchase of oil; solution for this factor will help in short term increase in energy production. The government has announced that immediately 1200 MW of additional plants will be set-up. At present the country has about 28 Trillion cft of recoverable gas available, the yearly consumption is about 1.2 Trillion cft, which means that even if gas consumption is increased, the existing recoverable gas will be sufficient for the next 15 years. Therefore the additional thermal generation should be based on gas, but in order to make additional gas available, the gas pressure and its transmission system will have to be enhanced.

For hydroelectric projects, the large ones can only be built on the Indus River, where not only hydroelectricity can be produced, but highly needed water storage can also be a by-product. Some legitimate objections on the environment and social impacts of large dams are there, but solutions for such objections can be satisfactorily found.



The current power crisis is grossly due to very high oil prices, and the country has to prepare itself at least for the next several years to somehow cope with it, since no immediate cheaper alternate solutions are available. It has been a big set back that new Hydel Projects have not been undertaken, neither the indigenous coal mining has started, investments in the existing as well as new gas field have been lacking. The policy orientation needs a drastic modification and indigenous resource like hydel energy production as well as development of coal mining and new gas fields should be the top priority.

Macro, micro & political conclusions.

Macroeconomic improvements good - but slow reforms in government, in regulation and within the ‘real economy’ retard investment & growth rates, hinder exports and undermine fiscal/structural sustainability of growth



Flow of FDI inflows now under threat, diaspora remittances up, but insufficient ‘real economy’ investment opportunities as final destination – consumer imports sucked in, savings rates low
Full-speed reforms across government needed, but gridlocked due to political uncertainty - helps the ‘reform resistance’ & ‘project silos’. Key decentralisation suffers from ‘unintended consequences’….
BUT….political reform gridlocked by constitutional-political structures and the President’s need to please too many masters
Role of Tribal border (Afghan) areas and relationship with ‘The West’ is critical for political and economic reform

Why is Pakistan important ?

Strategic geo-political & transport bridge Mid-East and India & China



165-170m pop – More people in Pakistan than in Russia
Potential for Kashmir flare-up – risk of big impact on world growth
Border region with Afghanistan
- Cross border raids, and question of Tribal Areas and Pashtun nationalism ?
- Relationship with NATO/US military activity
Role in ‘War on Terror’ and Deobandi ideology (‘Talibs’ = ‘Students’)
Many internal factors that create risks of political instability
Nuclear armed state – and advanced delivery systems
Borders with Iran, Afghanistan, India, China, close Gulf States, C Asia
Important Diaspora – especially in the UK (and UK troops on its border !)

URGENCY: Presidential & National Assembly Elections Oct 2007
– unclear how political events will pan out

Check Vheicle OwnerShip In Punjaab Pakistan

Link:

http://mtmis.punjab.gov.pk/


MTMIS SERVICES



* Automated Registration Process
* Successfully implemented in 33 Districts of the Punjab.
* 1.75 m of vehicles got registered under MVR-MTMIS Project.
* Centralized Database of 3.4 m vehicles to be scaled up to 6.7 m.
* Centralized Facility for the production of Number Plates.
* Web based Tax Calculator for New Registration & for Post Registration Transactions.
* State of the art Facility in DHA Office Lahore has been launched.
* Online connectivity with Customs Authorities for the verification of imported vehicles.
* Best e-government application of Pakistan for 2007.
* Production of Number Plates with minimal wastage (0.08%).
* Tangible enhancement in annual revenue and in collection of other taxes.
* Inventory Management for blank retro-reflective registration plates along with the details of which retro-reflective registration plate was issued against which registration number.

* Windows based Software has been deployed in 33 districts of the Punjab with the real time provision of insert, delete and update.

* Perform user authentication and authorization.

* Provide real time tracking of the status of requests received from the various districts of the Punjab regarding the printing of vehicle registration document and customization of retro-reflective registration plates. The status would also include the delivery status of the finished product with the date and time of departure as well as expected time of delivery etc.
* Courier Services for delivery of documents at the door steps of the owners of the vehicles.

* Generate reports as per the requirements.
* Fast Communication & Information Sharing between all the district offices of the Punjab.

* Provide Verification report of an ‘Individual (person)’ and a ‘Vehicle’ for issues relating to being involved in a crime (vehicle theft etc.) and for providing up to date information of dues (such as taxes and fines etc.) which are outstanding against a vehicle.
* To check whether the fitness certificate or route permit of any particular vehicle is valid or not.
* Any departmental office (such as the DLA or Excise & Taxation Office of a district) can connect with the MTMIS to view the current status of a vehicle or an individual prior to the issuance of a Vehicle Registration, Route Permits or Driving Licenses.

* Replicate databases of the stakeholder departments in the CFMTMIS.
* Data Replication from operative districts
* Centralized databases of Motor Vehicle Registrations.

* Act as a hub of information for exchange of information between stake holder departments.
* The Contractor would be required to identify (in collaboration with the concerned department) data which is to be marked as public for information exchange between stake holder departments. The public data has to be communicated to the MTMIS for information exchange between departments. Additionally the MTMIS is also to be used for information exchange between district offices of the department. Each local database is replicating in MTMIS where the Provincial Level Officers (residing in the Departmental HQ) will have view privileges for relevant data of their department (e.g. Officers of DG Excise & Taxation Office would be able to view the Excise & Taxation Data residing in MTMIS collected from all districts of Punjab).