Cook hopes to serve at 2015 World Cup

BIRMINGHAM: 

England captain Alastair Cook insisted he still wanted to lead the side at the World Cup despite conceding the team’s chances of triumphing at next year’s tournament were ‘far-fetched’ following another mauling by India.

The reigning world champions inflicted a humiliating nine-wicket defeat upon England in the fourth ODI at Edgbaston on Tuesday to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

India dismissed England for just 206, a total that owed much to number seven Moeen Ali’s 67.

They then coasted to victory with more than 19 overs to spare after Ajinkya Rahane, whose 106 was his maiden ODI century, and Shikhar Dhawan (97 not out) put on 183 for the first wicket.

Defeat saw England suffer a fifth loss in their last six ODI series.

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann recently urged Cook to quit one-day cricket and concentrate solely on Tests.

But Cook, whose nine on Tuesday meant he has gone 38 innings without an ODI hundred, faced similar calls to stand down as Test skipper from half-a-dozen former England captains earlier in the season, only to lead the team to a 3-1 series win over India.

Cook, asked if he would be England’s captain at the World Cup, replied, “If I’m allowed to be, yes.

“I don’t have a say on selection, but I’ve captained for three-and-a-half years with the goal to try to win the World Cup in Australia.

“I know that seems a bit far-fetched at the moment when we’re losing games of cricket, but there are a lot of really good players in that changing room.

“If we can improve at the rate we need to improve, we’ve got a chance. We’ve got a World Cup in six months. That’s our big focus now.”

Meanwhile, India captain MS Dhoni was left to reflect on a ‘complete game’.

“With the World Cup coming up, it is very important we start doing well outside the subcontinent,” said Dhoni, who led India to triumph on home soil at the 2011 edition.

Reserves: Tight gas production starts from Zarghun block

KARACHI: 

The production of tight gas has started from Zarghun South Block in Balochistan with initial flows from the field stated to be 4 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), according to one of the partner companies that control the lease.

Tight gas is natural gas found trapped in impermeable rock and non-porous sandstone or limestone formations, typically at depths greater than 10,000 feet below the surface.

Approximately 80% of Zarghun South’s reserves are certified as tight gas under the Pakistan’s Tight Gas (Exploration and Production) Policy 2011 that is entitled to a price of $6.74 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu), said Canada-based Jura Energy Corporation.

Jura owns Frontier Holdings Limited and Spud Energy Limited, which together holds interest in nine fields across Pakistan. The information related to Zarghun was shared with Canadian securities regulators last month.

The corporation said it expects monthly revenue of $170,000 from Zarghun South, a lease that covers 124 square kilometres in the western part of the Sulaiman Fold and Thrust Belt of the Middle Indus Basin.

Jura holds 40% working interest in Zarghun, which is operated by Mari Petroleum Company Limited with 35% stake.

Tight gas is priced higher than the output of a conventional field. The contribution of tight gas is minimal in the 4,000 mmcfd produced locally.

The 4 mmcfd being sold to Sui Southern Gas Company is off-specification but the Zarghun joint venture partners will be commissioning an Amine Sweetening Unit, used to remove unwanted chemical components, by October 2014, it said.

In the six months to June 2014, Jura Energy reported a loss of $1.577 million and accumulated losses amounted to $32.2 million.

According to its website, Jura’s interim chief executive officer is Shahid Hameed who also headed the operations for Dewan Petroleum.

Of the 27 companies engaged in petroleum exploration and production in the country, half of them are controlled by Pakistanis.

Industry officials say that except for the major multinationals and four big local firms, most have not invested any substantial sums for drilling. “There are many reasons but the security situation and low gas price are the top most concerns for the investors,” said an official

Travel alert: An inauspicious August for tourism

LAHORE: 

Whatever recovery of sorts Pakistan’s tourism industry had recorded, the previous month has done a good job in casting a dark shadow over it.

The ongoing political standoff in Islamabad featuring Imran Khan-led PTI and Tahirul Qadri’s PAT against the government has caused quite a bit of damage to the economy. Rupee has depreciated, foreign exchange reserves have slid and the KSE-100 index has seen several days of drastic decrease.

Similarly, the tourism industry has also been adversely affected. Major tourist destinations including Murree, its adjacent spots, Kaghan, Naran, Kashmir and Swat have seen a dip in visitors who tend to go through Islamabad to reach the northern areas.

Among these, Murree, Nathia Gali and Ayubia are the most visited spots because of their accessibility and better infrastructure compared to the rest.

Summer is considered the peak season for local hotels and vendors to earn money. But, unfortunately, this August has not been a favourable one for them. Normally, the sector earns huge profits in summers to sustain for the off seasons.

“Our hotels are usually fully occupied during mid-August and bookings are made in advance, but this political turmoil has proven disastrous for us,” said Hotel One Murree Regional Manager Ali Zeeshan.

There are about 1000 medium- and small-scale hotels and motels along the Murree belt which go up till Abbottabad. The occupancy rates there fell sharply in August.

The hotel chains are claiming around 70-80% low occupancy compared to the previous year. “We have recorded 70% difference this August. We normally have 90% occupancy by August but this year we closed it at 20%,” Zeeshan said.

“People from central, southern Punjab and even from Karachi and other parts of Sindh who usually visit these areas either cancelled or postponed their trips as the government blocked the highway, Grand Trunk Road and the Motorway.”

“Those coming from Sindh usually prefer staying overnight in Lahore or Islamabad before arriving here. Many people book rented cars from hotels or other agencies but sales volume was very low there too,” he said.

“Obviously such leisure trips require money, but since there is a lack of cash flow in the economy, people have postponed their trips,” said Travel Hut Managing Director Wahid Mukhtar.

“Embassies have also advised their citizens to avoid travelling. Hikers, who visited the region, have now headed towards India and Nepal. School and college tours have diminished too. For local tourists, visiting Naran Kaghan areas is also risky as many petrol pumps are closed in the area,” Mukhtar pointed out.

“Seeing the situation, hotels and guest houses closed for business in August, as they saw minimal or no profit coming their way.

“Due to the impediments set on the roads, the area has suffered acute shortage of food items and basic commodities too. Though the supply has been restored, there had been a temporarily hike in prices, which added to the woes of the industry,” said Zeeshan.

Global Competitiveness Report terms Pakistan third least safe country

ISLAMABAD: The downward slide of Pakistan’s overall ranking on Global Competitiveness Index took a break this year, but the country remains the third least safe place on the planet due to fragile security situation, the World Economic Forum said in its latest report.

Based on security parameters, the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) report 2014-15 that was launched from Switzerland, has placed Pakistan at 142 among 144 surveyed nations.

“The security situation remains alarming and Pakistan is the third least safe of all countries covered, behind only Yemen and Libya.”

Afghanistan is not covered in the report.

Plagued by violent terrorism, per business cost of terrorism Pakistan stood at 139 while on the indicator of business cost of crime and violence it was placed at 132.

According to the report, after two consecutive years of steep decline, Pakistan has remained essentially stable since last year and stood at 129 among 144 nations.

However, the country was ranked low in the most critical and basic areas of competitiveness. Its public institutions are constrained by red tape, corruption, patronage, and lack of property rights protection, according to the report.

Even among the South Asian nations, Pakistan is ranked at the bottom. India was at 71, Sri Lanka 73, Nepal 102, Bhutan 103 and Bangladesh at 109, according to the report.

Inadequate supply of infrastructure, corruption and inefficient government bureaucracy have contributed significantly to problems of doing business in Pakistan.

The report further mentioned the policy instability, access to financing and government instability due to fear of coups as other important factors hurting the business environment in the country.

In terms of quality of electricity supply, Pakistan was clubbed among bottom eleven countries and stood at 133.

Corruption was a matter of serious concern and Pakistan was placed at 123. Similarly, favourtism in decision making by government officials was glaring and the country was ranked at 101.

Owing to a lower inflation rate and a smaller budget deficit compared to the previous year, the country’s macroeconomic situation improved slightly but nevertheless remained dismal at 137. Pakistan’s infrastructure did not improve much and the country stood at 119 among the 144 nations surveyed.

Moreover, the country’s performance in terms of health and education is among the worst of all the countries covered. On the indicator of infant mortality Islamabad was placed at 137 and the ratio was the highest outside sub-Saharan Africa. Pakistan also has one of the lowest enrollment rates in the world and ranked at 132. The GCR stated that the estimates suggested that almost a quarter of children do not go to primary school.

Pakistan’s competitiveness was further penalised by the many rigidities and inefficiencies of its labour market where it stood at 132, though six notches up from previous rating. Female participation in the labor force is the world’s fifth lowest, at 140.

On the index of technological readiness, the potential of information and communication technology is not sufficiently leveraged, and access to ICTs remained low at 114. This reflected in the fact that while its IT exports remain at $327 million on the books, officials admit that informally, exports are as high as $1.5 billion.

Pakistan’s positives were that the country performed comparatively better in the more advanced areas such as financial development where it stood at 72 and 81 on the business sophistication pillar.

The country has been placed among 37 economies whose development is factor-driven, which is the lowest stage among the three stages, spanning from factor-driven to efficiency driven and innovation driven.

Embrace change for a changed future

KARACHI: This is my firm belief that to survive in today’s highly competitive world, everyone needs to have the ability to embrace the power of change.

“Change” is not a new concept of specific to the contemporary world. A pre-Socrates philosopher Heraclitus, in 500BC, stated that “nothing is permanent but change”.

Change is a way of life and happens every day — mostly in small dosage. But, sometimes the change could be significant especially if it relates to technology and demographics. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, policymakers and rulers are seen towing the same line despite lack of positive results.

Leadership and change interwoven

A good leader will bring change that helps the society. It is his duty to inspire and mobilise people, motivating them to move forward. He pushes people to achieve something different and better than the current reality.

If you look at famous personalities such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, you would see that they executed positive changes that impacted and improved the lives of millions of people.

Pakistan urgently needs to implement “change management” at every level of the society to tackle very serious external and internal challenges including a poor economic track record, lack of good governance, threats to security, political instability, corruption and nepotism.

Some deliberate transformations desperately needed to help Pakistan get back on a prosperous path include:

1. The need to stop following decades-old polices: If one is aware that a certain policy or strategy does not work, it is unwise to stick to it. A case in point is trying to “expand the tax net”, which is a critical factor in fuelling the country’s development engine. Taxing the same captive taxpayers in creative ways will not result in a higher tax/GDP ratio. Government will need to introduce structural changes — come up with a new strategy and target new sectors.

2. Reinvent the “incentive system” for bureaucracy: Bureaucracy is a two-edged sword. An effective bureaucracy acts as lubrication for the economic engine. On the other hand, an inefficient one hinders GDP growth and discourages investment. Currently, our bureaucracy is inefficient, sluggish and tainted. The fastest way to bring change is to incentivise correct behavior as well as to create discipline.

3. Bring change by using global success models: The world is passing us by as our economic growth falls to a crawl. One key source of growth in high populace countries such as India is development of the IT industry. In India, exports of software and IT-enabled services touched $62.6 billion last year. Our policymakers feel they already have attractive IT polices in place yet no visible change is seen in exports. It is about time we reviewed our decade-old IT investment policy and remodelled them.

4. Intellectual property will make a difference: Urgent change is needed to pursue an economy that is fuelled by innovation, growth and investment. This can only happen if Intellectual Property Rights are protected. If new ideas and original thinking cannot be protected, Pakistan will continue to struggle.

One of the biggest flaws of administrations is that they continue to follow old practices and try to solve problems using decades-old solutions.  It is critical that change is embraced as we look to usher in an era of progress and prosperity.

THE WRITER IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CORPORATE SECTOR AND A SUPPORTER OF MANY SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AND FOUNDATIONS

Paying the price: Gulf eyes Iranian gas as Pakistan delays imports

ISLAMABAD: 

The real war between Iran and the United States, which is supported by many European countries, appears to be over energy supply deals. Under some projects, Iran will be connected to European states, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait by sharing its vast energy reserves.

Iran and Oman have sealed a $60-billion agreement under which Muscat will purchase natural gas from Tehran over the next 25 years. The project includes laying a pipeline costing $1 billion across the Gulf.

The agreement was reached during the visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Muscat in March this year. Around 50% of the gas to be exported to Oman, will be transported onwards to Japan, South Korea and India.

In June, Kuwait became the second country in the Gulf that announced its desire to buy natural gas from Iran, which sits on one of the largest gas reserves in the world.

The eagerness for energy cooperation comes in the backdrop of a historic deal between Iran, the US and five other world powers over the former’s nuclear programme on November 24 last year. Iran accepted strict constraints on the nuclear programme for the first time in a decade in exchange for partial relief from sanctions.

Later in December, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said in a statement Iran was planning to lay a pipeline to ship gas to European nations that were interested in imports. If the programme is agreed and the US and other world powers reach some arrangement with Iran, Pakistan’s long-standing hopes of importing Iranian gas may be finally buried.

The Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline has been stuck for years in the wake of US threat of sanctions. Though Islamabad sought some concessions from the US to clear the way for building the pipeline, but the request was rejected outright.

The deadline – December 2014 – for the start of gas flow under the IP project is approaching fast and Pakistan may face penalties of millions of dollars every day in case of failure to complete its part of the pipeline. Iran has laid its portion of the pipeline.

In place of Iranian gas imports, the US has suggested that Pakistan should consider purchasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and other sources, but it is not a cheaper source of energy.

Crucial talks in Sept

The PML-N government, however, is trying to make some arrangements with Iran to win an extension in the deadline and keep the project alive. The two sides are expected to meet next month to discuss some important proposals, which may pacify the Iranian government, which is upset over failure of Islamabad to start work on the project.

Pakistan insists that it could not press ahead with the project due to the lingering threat of sanctions. Now, it has proposed to Tehran to construct the pipeline from the Gwadar Port under the guise of LNG export, which could be connected to Iran after the sanctions are lifted.

According to an official assessment, the gap between demand and supply of gas is widening in Pakistan and production is expected to drop to about half the existing levels by 2020 if new reserves are not tapped and output is not increased from existing fields.

Gas production will fall from the current 4.47 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 2.53 bcfd in 2019-20 if fresh supplies are not injected into the system.

Experts are of the view that Pakistan should tackle the issue strategically and take it up again with US authorities. They ask why Islamabad is being pressurised when other countries are clinching deals with Iran.

These countries have made economic policies part of their foreign policies and Pakistan should also follow them in securing energy supplies. Otherwise, it will lose an opportunity to secure cheaper gas imports and its economy will collapse under the weight of energy shortages.

Falcao arrives to complete Manchester United move

The 28-year-old has arrived at Carrington for a medical and to finalise terms of his loan deal from Monaco

Radamel Falcao has arrived at Manchester United’s training ground to complete his season-long loan move from Monaco.

The 28-year-old will undergo a medical and finalise the terms of his switch before the transfer window closes at 11pm.

Goal understands that United will pay a £10 million-plus fee for the Colombia international, as well as a significant part of his £300,000-a-week salary.

United are also expected to complete a deal for Ajax defender Daley Blind before the deadline which will take United’s total spending this summer to a figure close to £160m.

Manchester City appeared to be closing in on the signing of Falcao after the striker’s proposed move to Real Madrid fell through at the end of last week.

The Colombian, who required surgery to repair a damaged anterior cruciate ligament in January, was targeted by City as a replacement for Alvaro Negredo, who has agreed to join Valencia on loan.

Arsneal manager Arsene Wenger had also sanctioned a pursuit of Falcao with the same agreement as United have reached with Monaco.