QUETTA, Pakistan – China’s Dong Fang Electric Corp, which was previously involved in a deal, considered disastrous, to supply Pakistan Railways with locomotives, has won a new contract to provide engines to the same customer, this over the objections of General Electric of the United States.

China’s EXIM Bank will provide credit amounting to US$110 million for the purchase of 75 locomotives to be supplied by Dong Fang and $134 million for 205 coaches from China Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC). General Electric had been a leading contender for the locomotives contract.

In 2001, Dong Fang supplied 69 substandard locomotives to Pakistan Railways in a sale that was viewed as a disaster for the country’s railways system, with the machines’ weight proving excessive for the existing rail network, and cracks in engines and consistent maintenance requirements proving a heavy burden for the buyer.
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QUETTA – China’s determined effort to maintain its industrial presence in strife-torn Pakistan was underlined last week by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Hong Kong-listed chemicals-maker, Lumena Resources Corp, and the KASB Group of Pakistan.

Lumena’s interest is seen by local analysts as the first private-sector initiative from China at a time when foreign investors have stopped even visiting Pakistan for security reasons. Under the deal, an industrial park is to be set up for Chinese companies to explore areas of mutual interest for joint ventures in the South Asian country.

Pakistan direly needs overseas investment to bolster an economy that grew barely 2% in the last fiscal year. Rising violence has not only hampered efforts to attract foreign investment but also forced foreign firms already in Pakistan to quit their operations.
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QUETTA, Pakistan – The Pakistani currency has taken a turn for the worse against the US dollar, sliding to 84 rupees to the greenback, after the central bank last week decided to shift responsibility for payment of all oil import bills onto the private sector from December 14.

The decision to make commercial banks responsible for the payments, a move previously expected to be taken next year, is behind the rupee depreciation on concerns it will lead to excessive volatility in the foreign exchange market, market specialists said.
The US$10 billion annual oil payment is a significantly large amount for the private sector to handle and will attract speculative forces seeking to benefit from fluctuating exchange rates. Critics say the move came much earlier than the given deadline of February 1 on pressure from the International Monetary Fund(IMF).
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QUETTA, Pakistan – Having already gained experience and guidance from the United States on the effective use of drones, Pakistan is working on its own Predator-like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have helped revolutionize warfare.

The growth of Pakistan’s indigenous UAV industry is of great importance for the country’s defense, as the nation is on the front line of the “war on terror”.

State-owned defense enterprise Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra, east of the capital, Islamabad, is engaged in manufacturing Falco pilotless planes in collaboration with Selex Galileo of Italy. Initially, the Falco system is for aerial reconnaissance and information gathering. The country later plans to induct UAVs equipped with weapon systems to carry out offensive operations.

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