Cost efficiency: Government to convert three power plants to coal

The conversion of 12 steam power plants from furnace oil to imported coal in 2011 could have saved more than $8 billion or almost 4% of gross domestic product annually. ILLUSTRATION: JAMAL KHURSHID

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is converting three power plants from oil to coal as part of a plan to rely less on furnace oil-based steam power plants, a move that is expected to cut cost by two-thirds.

The 1,350-megawatt thermal power station (TPS) Muzaffargarh (units 1-6), 850MW TPS Jamshoro (units 1-4) and 640MW TPS Guddu are now being converted to coal with financial assistance from multilateral institutions.

According to a concept paper developed by the Planning Commission tiled ‘Conversion of existing thermal power stations to cheaper fuels’, the conversion of 12 steam power plants from furnace oil to imported coal in 2011 could have saved more than $8 billion or almost 4% of gross domestic product annually.

The savings estimate was based on prices of furnace oil and coal and the exchange rate at that time.

The current project will help save two-thirds of the cost of power generation, the paper said.

“The generation capacity proposed to be switched to coal constitutes almost a quarter of the country’s total capacity. It, therefore, can substantially cut overall electricity production costs, bringing relief to both domestic and industrial consumers,” argues a senior executive of a gas-fired independent power plant set up under the 2002 power policy during a recent briefing on the power sector.

“Another substantial amount of $1.5-1.6 billion a year can be saved by providing gas and oil to power producers according to their position on the order of merit based on their fuel efficiency,” contends the executive who asked to remain anonymous.

If his argument is accepted, then the government should prefer eight IPPs with a cumulative capacity of 1,700 megawatts set up under the 2002 policy in the supply of gas and oil for power generation.

Furthermore, he says, savings in fuel costs should help the government eliminate power subsidies, considerably cut its inflationary borrowings from banks, bridge the budget gap, spare funds for investment in hydropower projects and lift some pressure off the country’s weakening balance of payments position

Trade policy: Trade to be the main agenda of PM’s visit, says Dar

The finance minister revealed that American officials assured him during bilateral meetings that an outstanding amount of $322 million from the Coalition Support Fund would be reimbursed to Pakistan shortly. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will focus on expanding investment and trade cooperation with the United States (US) during his upcoming visit to Washington, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said.

Dar was speaking to media representatives in the US at the conclusion of his visit to Washington, during which he attended more than 50 meetings on the occasion of annual World Bank- International Monetary Fund gatherings, and also had “positive” discussions with US officials on bilateral relations.

The finance minister revealed that American officials assured him during bilateral meetings that an outstanding amount of $322 million from the Coalition Support Fund would be reimbursed to Pakistan shortly.

With regard to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s talks with President Barack Obama on October 23, Dar said the Pakistani leader will advocate trade as the best way to strengthen bilateral relations and call for expansion in trade and investment relations. The prime minister will also interact with American business leaders, Dar added.

Senator Dar said he had a string of useful meetings with American officials including USAID administrator and senior US trade officials.

Budget support for Pakistan from the US is likely to be increased to 35-40% of Pakistan’s budget, from the current 20%.

Liverpool Aims For Top-Four Place In EPL: Steven Gerrard

LONDON: Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard said that Reds are not eyeing on Premier League Title but aims to finish it with a top-four place.

The Reds’ skipper told the official website of the clud “I’d never say never about our chances of winning the Premier League title. But if I’m being honest, that’s not the aim. The aim is for a top-four place.”

Liverpool currently lies at the 2nd spot in the Premier League Charts behind Arsenal winning five out of its seven opening matches.

By this impressive start in the league, the Anfield side has been predicted to be a dark horse for the title but Steven Gerrard, who also lead England national football side, calmed down the mounting expectations  by his statement.

Hollywood Band ‘One Direction’ Wants To Record Song For Bollywood

LONDON: Hollywood band ‘One Direction’ members have revealed that they would live to record a song for a Bollywood film.

According to the sources, the members of the band said in an interview that they wish to record song for a Bollywood film. They said that they were applauded by the response of their film during a big special screening of their film ‘This is Us’ in Kolkata.

Furthermore, the band members said that they know that Indians love them a lot and so that their band wants to give gratitude to them soon by recording a Bollywood song maybe during the next album launch in coming months

‘Hercules The Legend Begins’ Trailer Released

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood new movie ‘Hercules The Legend Begins’ trailer has been released, whereas the story revolves around one of the greatest myths of all time about Greece god Zeus son ‘Hercules’.

The movie Hercules: The Legend Begins has been directed by Renny Harlin with a script by Sean Hood and Daniel Giat, whereas the film lead cast includes Kellan Lutz stars as Hercules and Scott Adkins, Liam McIntyre, Liam Garrigan, Johnathon Schaech, Roxanne McKee, Gaia Weiss, and Rade Serbedzija.

The action packed film will be released on March 2014 throughout the cinemas.

Movie review: 'Fire In The Blood' - hard-hitting expose of pharmaceutical companies

Fire in the blood. PHOTO: PUBLICITY

Normally we tend to overlook the documentary in the range of our cinematic entertainment. It would be a mistake, a big mistake, to miss “Fire In The Blood” because we would rather have a good time watching “Grand Masti” or “Chennai Express” at a theatre near us.

“Fire In The Blood” is not entertainment. It’s much more. It’s not a feature film. But the issue it deals with – how the criminal racket allegedly enforced by large pharmaceutical companies to block life saving drugs from third world countries, mainly Africa, touches all our lives.

We could be one of the victims, and we don’t even know it!

Indeed director Dylan Mohan Gray – god bless the vistas of visionary velocity that he breaks open in this jolting expose – takes us into a journey through a drama that beats the fictionalised flamboyance of fantasy films by a fabulous margin. There are the specifically-targeted villains and the greed motivated pharmaceutical companies, shown almost as drug cartels operating to stop the process of healing and saving lives of the poor.

The film’s premise is appalling in its ramifications. As Gray’s tale of avarice and drug-deprived deaths in Africa unfolds, we become shocked witnesses to the abysmal immorality that has gripped all large businesses in the world.

Money doesn’t only make the world go round, it flattens every moral consideration. And let’s face it, medicines and drugs are a business proposition. To see how pharmaceutical companies ruthlessly operate in non-developed under privileged areas to deny rather than save lives is a process that this film explores and exposes with meticulously researched material and the authoritative voices of people who care about what happens to the poor.

Because the film (I refuse to give it the genre-limiting name of a ‘documentary’) goes into an area of global concern that has never before been dealt with on film, the narrative does get top heavy with information at times. Bear with it. Deal with the situation that the film so shockingly exposes: that the medicines we so blindly trust to heal us and make us healthy are often used to blackmail and mock mortality.

The singular concern of Gray’s film establishes the enormity of the wrongdoers’ death-inducing syndicate early in the narrative. The unlikely heroes show up later. They are an Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla and vocal activists which went that extra mile to counter the damage done by the greedy global players in the business.

“Fire In The Blood” is an important treatise on the troubled diseased times we live in when the healers become the destroyers and medicines are turned into malicious money-making agents of destruction.

Very frequently in the course of the narration I was conscious of how little we know about the world that controls our daily lives. It’s an intrinsically contaminated world that we live in, a world devoid of heroes and acts of heroism, a world governed by greed… “Fire In The Blood” opens up that world to show us the festering innards of a wounded civilisation.

Some of the world’s most high profile spokespersons like Desmond Tutu, Zackie Achmat and Bill Clinton give their voices to make a cogent powerful impact on us. William Hurt’s wry cynical saddened narration certainly adds a valuable dimension to the frightening poignancy of the narration.

Watching “Fire In The Blood” is not a breezy experience. It make us sit up, think hard and reconsider the quality of our lives. In other words, it does everything cinema is supposed to, but seldom does.

Adnan Sami asked to leave India by Mumbai police

The Raj Thackeray led MNS had previously asked Sami to leave India. PHOTO: FILE

MUMBAI: Pakistani musician Adnan Sami, who had adopted India as his second home, was given notice by the Mumbai police to leave India as his visa had expired, Express News reported on Tuesday.

Earlier, on October 12 Adnan Sami was asked to leave the country following expiry of his visa by the film wing of the extremist Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena (MNS), Press Trust of India had reported.

“Sami met us at our office here today, seeking our cooperation. We told him to leave the country as his visa has expired,” MNS film wing president Amey Khopkar had said.

“We told Sami that our priority would be our artistes,” Khopkar had told PTI.

Sami had reportedly told a family court that he had a Pakistani passport and was residing in India on the basis of visa granted to him from time to time. His visa was reportedly valid from September 26, 2012 till October 6, 2013.