Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
A visit to Badshahi Mosque
A few days ago, I got a chance to visit Badshahi Mosque for the first time with two of my friends. While entering Greater Iqbal Park, I noticed that COVID-19 SOPs were being followed strictly. No one without a face mask and surgical gloves was allowed to enter the parking lot. We decided to visit Badshahi Mosque first, so we headed there. At the main gate of Badshahi Mosque we found ‘Shoes keeping service’.
After keeping our shoes there, we went inside. I witnessed the glorious Mosque with a big courtyard where thousands of people could offer prayer. On the right side, there was a gallery and on the left, quarters were there in a row. Unfortunately, the beauty of the gallery was so damaged by wall chalking all around with poetry and names of people, which is not good according to a religious point of view. It is also our heritage which is often visited by foreign tourists. It will surely portray a bad image of our society.
Authorities concerned should have an eye on it. And people should respect the holy place and also avoid this activity at any place. At the end, when we took our shoes back they charged 360 rupees for 3 pairs, 120 rupees per pair of shoes, which is clearly an unjustified act. We tried to negotiate with them. They clearly refused to lessen even one rupee saying “Jis Ko Batana Hai Batao”. They said that they have got this contract from Govt. No one can stop them from charging how much they want. They looked like ‘Mafia’ in fact they were. It raises many questions about the tourism promoting policy of Govt.!
FARAZ ALI SHAH
Lahore
Aviation industry on ventilator
There are disturbing reports that ICAO may blacklist Pakistan CAA and as a consequence PIA, followed by cessation of over-flight and landing rights by most other countries with similar sanctions like those imposed by European Union. It seems that Federal Government does realize the gravity of this crisis that aviation faces.
AM Arshad must definitely be a good professional fighter pilot, but he lacks the competence and experience required to steer PIA out of the mess which it has been. The difference between commercial and military aviation is as vast as between Oncology and Dentistry. AM Nur Khan succeeded because he accepted this reality, while others failed.
The rot in PIA started under Viqar Azeem, Shujaat Azeem, followed by Zardari’s choice of a crony Aijaz Haroon and Nadeem Yusafzai. During Zia tenure, a matriculate was appointed as Director Precision Engineering and later Director Engineering just because he knew him. Aijaz Haroon despite his baggage of financial and administrative indiscipline, including involvement in real estate irregularities, and other than pilot skills and high school education, was appointed as MD. He recruited Saleem Siyani whose sole aviation experience was Maintenance Repair Overhaul sales promotion as DMD.
Under Siyani PIA’s revenues in MRO reduced, while maintenance cost escalated when an unknown vendor located in Dubai was appointed as spare parts supplier, with first right of refusal. Most fake degree holders were recruited during Aijaz/Yusafzai tenure. PIA ended with a partial ban by the EU. It is not just PIA, but its subsidiary PIAIL, which owns hotels in NYC and Paris etc have been going in losses, and yet it continues to be headed by the same management which is responsible for its undoing. Before COVID19, hotels were minting money while PIAL was losing by the day.
GULL ZAMAN
Peshawar
Supply chain
Petrochemical industry includes the method of end products of refinery into by products which act as raw material for plastic buckets, candles, beauty products etc. So a petrochemical industry produces raw material for the plastic and cosmetic industries and lots of more similar industries.
Companies are trying to innovate in different ways to boost the overall performance or to satisfy the end-consumer. The trend of outsourcing is coming to light in Pakistan as a lot of Petrochemical companies relying on third party service providers but what if they will perform all tasks. This term of integration would be referred to as Vertical Integration by taking ownership of all his supplier, distributor and retailer to control its supply chain. Petrochemical industries are relying on just in time strategy so they would encounter a lot of challenges if they opted vertical integration. The most challenging thing would be the initial set-up cost which requires huge investment as they need to procure facilities, new hirings and to manage new facilities so there has been a rise within the complexity of the technologies required..
This has resulted in higher costs of acquiring these technologies. Other major costs would be the prices of organization of production within a firm resulting from integration. A diseconomy of scale can also result when a firm decides to integrate vertically resulting in decreased efficiencies. As a firm integrates, there’s a rise within the complexity and degree of differentiation of its structure.
Also, when firms integrate vertically, they’ll face legal barriers, which might increase their barriers to entry so it can be difficult for competitors to enter to compete. Do not vertically integrate unless absolutely necessary. This strategy is just too expensive, risky and difficult to reverse.
M ABDULLAH YUSUF
Islamabad
Energy crisis
According to the Pakistan economic survey 2019-20 the installed electricity generation capacity reached 37,402 MW in 2020. Whereas the total demand of Pakistan is nearly 25,000 MW. This huge surplus is due to CPEC’s 17 energy projects which have been installed in various cities in Pakistan and 13000MW energy added in national grid stations.
So the question is this: if Pakistan’s maximum energy demand is 25,000MW, and the installed capacity is 37,402 MW, then is there really an energy crisis or is it just incompetence on part of the authorities? So we have the capacity to meet our demand, but the problem lies in the part of transmission . Every new government installs new power plants and increases the installed capacity but no one focuses on improving the transmission and distribution capacity.
Pakistan’s energy problem can easily be solved if experts are given the task to enhance the transmission and distribution capacity. And if the government is sincere and honest in handling this issue, rather than focusing on building more power plants it is important to work on transmission. Once Pakistan gets uninterrupted light, its economy will boost and attract more foreign investors .
BAHISHT SHEIKH
Karachi
