Will the Orange Line make Lahore blue? on June 9, 2018The Crossrail project in the United Kingdom is essentially designed to reduce the travelling time from the point of entry in the UK at Heathrow airport to the major commercial centers like Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf. The Crossrail is a remarkable infrastructure project undertaken in the UK with a labyrinth of 42 km of […]
Renewable energy prospects on June 2, 2018China has emerged as the leader in the development of renewable energy, and by 2017,China’s wind and solar power capacity reached 168 GW and 130GW respectively, generating 5.3percentof China’s electricity supply. Correspondingly in photovoltaic (PV) technology, the price of PV modules decreased from about 30 Yuan per watt in 2007 to about 2 Yuan by […]
The fourth industrial operating system on May 27, 2018Pakistan’s digital operating system is in need of an upgrade. The model we have been using is not up to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A new era of digital technology has been ushered in and is unfolding at breakneck speed. It has the potential to address critical challenges ranging from food security […]
The twain shall never meet on May 19, 2018 The global economy is witnessing with alacrity the threat hurled by the United States of America to impose tariff on potential imports from China of goods valuing around USD 60 billion, ostensibly on the grounds that it violated sanctions imposed on Iran and North Korea. The trade tussle between these two global economies was […]
Murky Waters on May 12, 2018The Tibetan Plateau has become a party to an insidious water game and some of the countries in the region remain blissfully unaware of the sinister moves afoot. The Tibetan plateau’s glaciers and altitude makes Tibet the world’s third largest freshwater repository. This is why it is occasionally termed the “third pole”. It is also […]
Corporate Pakistan and forensics on May 4, 2018In the modern corporate world the concept of a ‘Seth’ or family-owned company does not exist and instead the ownership rights vest amongst the shareholders. There is a delicate relationship between strategic shareholders — those with controlling shares — and the minority shareholders who invest at the bourses. Further down the ladder, corporate managers deal […]
Enslavement or emancipation? on April 26, 2018When Western economies were struggling to extricate themselves from the 2008 financial crisis, China remained comfortably smug as its economy continued to expand. However, Western economists have still criticised the Chinese economic model, saying that it is too reliant on enhanced public spending and access to easy credit. It is generally accepted that towards the […]
Will Pakistan negotiate with MDB of its own choice? on March 24, 2018The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was established in 2015 with 57 founding members on the proposal of China. The AIIB is a multilateral development bank (MDB) the avowed objective of which is to offer financing for infrastructure needs of Asia. Its membership comprises members of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The […]
Creating jobs through GIS technology on February 7, 2018The use of mapping systems known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has begun in Pakistan. However, the technology has not yet received state patronage and widespread usage thus its potential to boost the national economy has not been exploited fully. The use of GIS is exclusively limited to governance and supervisory functions, especially in the […]
Economic security and extremism on January 8, 2018The economy of Pakistan has not had a comfortable ride for decades, yet the only consistent economic factor which is persistent in all regimes is the inability of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), apex tax collection and the administering body at the federal level, to broaden the tax base. The FBR’s own figures depict […]