Plundering the poor written by Khurram Husain

Khurram Husain

WE have learned from the textbooks that the system can be rigged in ways that it transfers wealth from the poor to the rich. But it is another matter altogether when one gets a glimpse of the process with one’s own eyes.
This fixing of the system can work in complex ways sometimes, but once one gets a handle on it, it’s actually quite simple. It is ubiquitous, from the taxation system to administered pricing, from

Has CPEC now kicked off? by Khurram Husain

Khurram Husain

NOW that a couple of hundred containers have been loaded onto two vessels at Gwadar port and dispatched to various destinations around the world, can we say that CPEC is up and running? The short answer is no. The long answer is not yet.

The convoy that brought the containers to Gwadar, and the ceremonial send-off at the port with the usual unveiling of plaques, was not a commercial endeavour. It was a forced push, mostly led

Trump vs Bush by Khurram Husain

Khurram husain

THERE is madness, then there’s Trump. Since a lot of lyrical indignation has already been expressed about the horrors of a Trump presidency, let me dwell on a comparison here that others have not tried to undertake yet.

Remember George Bush Jr? The insanity

K-Electic's turnaround by Khurram Husain

Khurram Husain

I STILL remember back in the fall of 2008 when I was with DawnNews, this paper’s sister TV channel which broadcast in English back then, and in the studio with me was Naveed Ismael, the new CEO of what was then the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), later renamed K-Electric. He had taken over only days earlier as the new management team under the Abraaj Group moved in.

Debating solar tariff written by Khurram Husain

Khurram Husain

LAST week I looked into the details of one Chinese solar power project that is struggling to be born in the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park in Bahawalpur because at the last minute, Nepra, the power regulator and tariff-setting body, wanted to renegotiate the tariff downward. One third of the project is up and running while the remaining went into litigation and today awaits a second round of hearings to set its tariff.

I mentioned that the upfront solar tariff originally set in Pakistan was Rs17 per unit, later revised down to Rs11. I mentioned that the average tariff

CPEC Snags on solar written by Khurram Husain

Khurram Husain
The writer is dawn
staff member

CPEC Snags on solar

ONE of the more exciting of the CPEC power projects to be undertaken on priority in Pakistan was the giant solar park to be built in Bahawalpur. It was part of the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park and was part of what they call the ‘early harvest’ projects, meaning the first to come online.

The first MoU for the project was signed in August 2013 between the governments of China and Punjab. The provincial

IMF warns of looming CPEC bill written by khurram husain

Khurram Husain
The writer is a staff
member of dawn.

IMF warns of looming CPEC bill

GROWING Chinese investments in Pakistan have the potential to lift the economy’s potential output, but the repayment obligations that come with this investment will be serious, warns the IMF in its latest and final review of the just concluded programme.

“During the investment phase, as the ‘early harvest’ projects proceed, Pakistan will experience a surge in FDI and other