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January 2015

Housing shortage in Pakistan reaches 9m units

Pakistan is facing shortage of over 9 million housing units as formal financial sector caters only up to 2 per cent of all housing transactions, the lowest ratio in the region.

The State Bank’s Quarterly Housing Finance Review, released on Friday, stated that there was shortage of around 8 million housing units in 2009, which has been accumulating by 0.34 million units every year (World Bank, 2009).

The report said the informal lending caters up to 10-12pc of transactions for housing.Read More »Housing shortage in Pakistan reaches 9m units

THE TERROR FORECAST

ALI SUKHANVER

Ali SukhanverThe whole of the Indian society is under a cloud of fear and horror, every one forecasting some drastic terrorist activity during President Obama’s visit to India in the last week of this January. It is being apprehended that the terrorists would give a ‘warm welcome’ to President Obama on the Indian lands. All security and intelligence agencies of India, all analysts of Indian TV channels and all columnists of Indian newspapers are stressing upon the same apprehension. In short this terror-forecast is wrapped up in such an immaculate type of certainty that it seems no one can save India from the hazards of terrorism on this occasion. Let us pray to God Almighty that He may save India and President Obama from every type of terrorist activity during the said visit because if any thing went wrong , the Indian authorities would simply push the whole ‘credit’ to Pakistan. Read More »THE TERROR FORECAST

Stakeholders against affordable housing

By Adnan Adil

In the absence of any regulatory mechanism by the government and a dysfunctional judicial system, the land property mafia has ripped off the middle-class

Our newly rich property magnates keep making quite a splash by building grand mosques and flaunting their charity works. These shows of riches and piety mock the misery of millions of Pakistanis on whose hard earned incomes these tycoons have thrived. The private real estate business has prospered in a country that has a shortage of 10 million housing units according to official estimates, which means that 60 million people need housing on the basis of six members constituting a family. If one takes into account the fact that 80 percent of the 200 million population either lives below or on poverty line, an unofficial but more realistic estimate of this shortage would be 20 million units.Read More »Stakeholders against affordable housing

PRODUCTION AND EXPORT OF TERRORISM

PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER

ALI SUKHANVERThe Boston Review published an article of C. Christine Fair on 16th of last October with the title, Is Pakistan in ISIS’ Crosshairs? C. Christine Fair is a well known American analyst on South Asian political and military affairs and a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies as well as of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a senior fellow with the Counter Terrorism Center at West Point. She is considered a very staunch advocate of the US policies in the South Asian Region. The article says, ‘Pakistan has long been home to international terrorists, including al-Qaeda and the masterminds of 9/11, as well as the Taliban and numerous other Islamist militant groups. According to C. Christine Fair ‘Militants are a fundamental component of the country’s foreign policy, and Pakistan’s army and intelligence organizations have developed a virtual zoo of Islamist militants of varying creeds to conduct operations in India and Afghanistan. Coupled with Pakistan’s history of nuclear proliferation, this makes for a toxic cocktail of concern.’Read More »PRODUCTION AND EXPORT OF TERRORISM

Pakistan to pull solar energy into national power grid

Amid a worsening energy crisis, Pakistan has approved the use of grid-connected solar energy, rooftop solar installations and mortgage financing for home solar panels to boost uptake of clean energy in the country.

The government has also reversed course and eliminated a 32.5 percent tax imposed on imported solar equipment in the country´s 2014-2015 budget. The reversal aims to bring down the cost of installing solar panels.

The approval of net-metering – which allows solar panel purchasers to sell power they produce to the national grid – is a major breakthrough that could spur use of solar energy and help Pakistan´s government cut power shortages in the long run, said Asjad Imtiaz Ali, chief executive officer of the Alternative Energy Development Board, a public organisation.Read More »Pakistan to pull solar energy into national power grid