Cotton output falls 14 percentage

KARACHI: The country’s cotton output has dropped by 14 per cent year-on-year to 2.635 million bales this season from 3.076m bales produced in the same period last year.

Punjab, which accounts for 80pc of the country’s total cotton output, has produced 788,000 bales so far, which is 41pc lower than 1.331m bales a year ago, according to the first phutti (seed cotton) arrivals report of the current season (2016-17) showing production figures of up to Sept 30.

In contrast, Sindh’s cotton output has risen 6.6pc to 1.856m bales from 1.741m bales in the comparable period of the last season.

Pakistan’s cotton production faced a drastic fall of 28pc in the previous season, too, mainly because of steep decline in Punjab output.

Spinners have so far purchased around 1.981m bales and private exporters have lifted 67,391 bales during the current season. Ginners have unsold stocks of 596,622 bales.

Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum Chairman Naseem Usman told Dawn that due to late arrivals of phutti in Punjab, 640 ginneries are operating across the country at present compared to 753 a year earlier.

He feared hot weather may damage the standing crop in cotton-growing areas of Sindh and Punjab.

“There are strong indications of the presence of white fly and pink bollworm in cotton plants in both the provinces,” he said, and urged the plant protection department to take appropriate measures to avoid a repeat of last year’s cotton crop debacle.

ASIAN BANK unhappy over delay in implementation on energy projects

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed serious concern over Pakistan’s slow progress in implementation of energy sector projects and their loan utilisation.

This is the outcome of $6.4 billion annual portfolio review by the Manila-based multilateral lending agency. Of the annual portfolio, about $3.1bn financing was meant for the energy sector projects, of which 43 per cent related to five multi-tranche financing facilities (MFF) and 29pc related to Jamshoro Power Project.

“Except for the MFF in the ANR (agriculture, natural resources and rural development) sector, more than half of the MFF amount remains uncommitted. A substantial under-utilisation is in the transport and energy sectors,” the ADB said in its “Country Portfolio Review: Pakistan 2016”.

At present, the energy sector is the biggest sector representing about 48.2pc of the ADB’s active portfolio. As a result of the assessment, the lending agency has asked the government to obtain approval of the project details by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council before the submission of project documents to ADB’s management for approval to minimise the delays.

The ADB observed that “the time taken to award the first contract after loan approval is more than 13.1 months on an average; the last five years average shows that signing of first contract after approval took more than a year”. It also included projects where these contracts were signed prior to loan approval.

“The energy and ANR projects took relatively longer time to complete their first procurement; average time consumed is 18.1 months and 16.8 months respectively,” the ADB said, adding that on an average 18.5 months were passed in three loans where no contract was signed by Dec 31, 2015 since approval.

The ADB also highlighted key reasons for the delayed procurement. These were related to unavailability of design, weak procurement capacities of implementation agencies, litigation, delay in establishment of project monitory units and project administration challenges. As a result, the contract awards projection provided in the procurement plan could not be achieved.

For example, a project loan for the power sector was approved in December 2015 by the ADB but this approval could not become effective in the absence of approval of PC-1 (project documents by the Planning Commission).

“It is unfortunate that even though the project is procurement ready, no activity could be started due to issues relating to delayed PC-1 approval. Resultantly, the implementation of the project has been delayed for almost a year,” it noted.

The ADB highlighted weak performance of contractors and executing agency in contract management. This led to subsequent extensions in sub-projects completion dates resulting in project extension, incomplete works at loan closure and slippages in completion schedule to critical path against the loan closing date.

It also pointed out institutional arrangements bottlenecks as key problem. This included lack of ownership, decision making and frequent staff changes at the project monitoring unit, weak project management structure, multiple units and tiers in national transmission and despatch company resulting in impeding efficiency in project management and oversight by National Transmission Despatch Company.

On top of that there was ambiguity in roles and delegation of authority for implementation and delays in taking major decisions at the highest level. The projects also suffered because of procurement challenges because of court cases and specifications, mis-procurement and major re-biddings.

It said there was delay in mobilisation of consultants for preparation of next tranche and utilisation of loan amounts, delays in establishment of project management and allied actions while under-performance of implementation support consultants caused procurement delay and complaints on safeguards compliance.

Many projects also suffered due to a lack of understanding of ADB’s procurement guidelines and stipulations of projects and loan agreements on procurement which were challenged when found contrary to the government laws and regulations and absence of a fully functional internal approval mechanism leading to procurement processes inefficiency.

It said the ADB and government need to take certain measures to achieve full readiness for pipeline projects. At the upstream level, the government should create an enabling regulatory and legal environment without ambiguities, widespread dissemination of a project approval as well as key decisions on use of a particular procurement guidelines amongst key stakeholders and identify procurement risks on the onset while undertaking procurement capacity.

At the downstream level, executing agencies should formulate and implement a comprehensive procurement strategy, which should include enhanced and informed understanding of ADB procurement guidelines and refining of procurement skills.

Pakistan does not cherish aggressive design against any nation,PM Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired two meetings of top civil and military leadership on the National Action Plan (NAP) and national security on Tuesday, with a special focus on the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and held Kashmir.

'Pakistan believes in peace and collective betterment'

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing a National Security Committee meeting focusing on the internal and external security of the country said, "Pakistan does not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation. We believe in peace and collective betterment."

"However, our quest for peace must not be mistaken as a sign of weakness. Our armed forces are fully capable of thwarting any kind of threat to our sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

The meeting reviewed the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and the operational preparedness of the armed forces, a PM Office statement said.

"Pakistan cannot be cowed down with hollow rhetoric and aggressive posturing," the meeting resolved, adding that the nation stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its armed forces to ensure defence of the country at any cost.

Participants of the meeting noted that escalation of tensions along the LoC and the eastern border will shift Pakistan's focus away from its counter-terrorism efforts at a critical juncture and would be detrimental to gains made in the war against terror on home soil.

The forum said that India should resolve the Kashmir issue for enduring regional peace instead of making 'futile efforts' to divert the world's attention through 'propaganda' and 'false claims' of surgical strikes, the statement said.

The meeting's participants called on India to halt atrocities in India-held Kashmir (IHK).

PM Nawaz said that the people of IHK are struggling for their inalienable right to self-determination guaranteed by United Nations Security Council resolutions, which cannot be suppressed through brutal oppression by Indian security forces.

"It is imperative that the UN and other countries fulfil their longstanding commitment to the innocent and defenceless people of Indian Occupied Kashmir," the prime minister said.

"Pakistan and Kashmir are inseparable. We will continue to extend our moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri people at every forum," the premier reiterated.

'Need improved use of intelligence input'

National Security Adviser (NSA) retired Lt Gen Nasser Janjua briefed participants of a meeting on the implementation status of NAP earlier in the day in which each item of the anti-terrorism plan was discussed separately, a statement released after the meeting said.

It was agreed that there is a need to further improve collection, collation, analysis and use of intelligence input to defeat 'enemy designs'.

Participants of the meeting agreed that collective efforts at the national level and specific efforts at a provincial level were required to consolidate the gains made so far in NAP and move further in areas where progress had been unsatisfactory. The NSA stressed the crucial role of provincial governments in the implementation of NAP.

The meeting also agreed on a future course of action in terms of milestones and timelines for different components of NAP.

The secretary to the prime minister made a presentation on certain aspects of reform in the criminal justice system during the meeting. Proposals for reform in laws dealing with investigation, prosecution and judicial apparatus dealing with terrorism cases were presented to participants to evolve consensus on a future course of action.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed there had been a significant improvement in security in Pakistan. "We are fighting a war on terrorism and our fight against violent extremism as a national policy imperative," he said.

"The nation expects us to rid the society of these evils for all times and we will not fail them under any circumstances," the premier said.

Today's meetings come a day after political leaders during an 'All Parties Conference' resolved to raise the Kashmir issue at various international fora and said they stood united against Indian 'aggression' and violation of human rights in India-held Kashmir (IHK).

Tensions have simmered between Pakistan and India since an Indian crackdown on dissent in IHK following the killing by Indian forces of Burhan Wani, a separatist leader, in July.

Pakistan has strongly condemned Indian atrocities against the people of IHK. The use of pellet guns by Indian troops in the region have blinded over 700 Kashmiris, while more than 100 people have been killed.

Those attending today's meetings included all provincial chief ministers, along with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif, Lt Gen (r) Nasser Janjua, Director General Inter Services Intelligence Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Direction General Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan, Director General Military Operations Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Director General of Military Intelligence Maj Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj, Director General Counter Terrorism Maj Gen Tariq Qaddus.