KARACHI: Gerry’s dnata, Pakistan’s leading ground services provider, has been awarded a multi-year contract by Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The partnership will see Gerry’s dnata provide quality and safe ground, passenger and cargo handling services to the airline at six airports in Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan and Faisalabad.
Syed Haris Raza, CEO of Gerry’s dnata, said: “We are proud to be the ground handler of choice for Gulf Air in Pakistan. We consistently invest in infrastructure, cutting-edge technologies and training to deliver the best possible services for our customers.
“Our new contract is a vote of confidence in our quality offering, and a testament to our team’s hard work and commitment to safety and service excellence. We look forward to a long-standing partnership with the airline.”
In recent years Gerry’s dnata has significantly invested in facilities, equipment, training and technology, while continually expanding its operations in Pakistan. Gerry’s dnata’s investments include a state-of-the-art import cargo centre at Jinnah International Airport (KHI) in Karachi. The 72,000 square feet facility is equipped with the latest technologies ensuring safe and efficient handling and storage of all types of cargo. Offering uncompromised temperature-controlled handling and storage solutions to airline customers, the GDP-certified facility has played a key role in the safe handling of COVID-19 vaccines, rapid test kits and other essential goods.
Gerry’s dnata also expanded its operations at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore (LHE) and opened a new export cargo terminal. The expansion nearly tripled the company’s cargo handling capacity in Lahore, supporting customers and their customers in increasing fruit export from the region.
The excellent quality of Gerry’s dnata’s services is underpinned by the constant growth of its customer base. Having won over 10 new contracts in the past 18 months, Gerry’s dnata now serves over 30 scheduled and unscheduled airline customers at seven Pakistani airports.
BEIJING: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the national flag carrier of the country, has transported 5.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through two special flights from China.
The PIA through its two special cargo flights transported a new batch of 5.9 million doses of vaccines from Beijing Capital International Airport to Islamabad.
Special cargo flights – PK6852 and PK6853 took off from Beijing Capital Airport for Islamabad on Monday and Tuesday and transported 5.9 million doses, Qadir Bux Sangi, PIA Country Manager for China told state media here on Tuesday.
On August 29, the national flag carriers airlifted around 12 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccines through its four special cargo flights.
The PIA special flights PK-6852, PK-6853, PK-6854 and PK-6856 transported 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccine procured from China for vaccination of people under government’s ongoing prevention and control drive against Covid-19 pandemic, he added.
He said that under able leadership of its Chief Executive Officer, Arshad Malik, the national flag carrier has so far airlifted over 63 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine through 49 special flights.
It is worth mentioning that the government under its mass vaccination drive has set a target to vaccinate 75 million population by end of 2021.
Chinese vaccines namely Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino besides other vaccines are being used in the mass vaccination drive.
The health authorities launched the nationwide vaccination drive with around a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March this year.
The drive began with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80 but now the vaccine is being administered to the people aged over 18 years.
Islamabad received the first COVID-19 vaccine consignment after a military aircraft transported it from Beijing on February 01, this year.
Prime Minister Imran Khan attends the inaugural ceremony of the three-day ICCI Housing Property, Housing and Construction Expo 2021 on Friday, to continue facilitating the construction industry for creating wealth and boost the country’s exports.
Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib, Special Assistant to PM Dr. Shahbaz Gill, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Lt General (Retd) Anwar Ali Haider, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sardar Yasir Ilyas also attended the event.
The expo featured the pavilions of the commercial banks, Board of Investment, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), companies, and businesses related to the construction industry, including real estate developers, marketing firms, cement, marble, tiles, electronics, cable, and many others.
The educational institutes were also present there with aim of promoting the industry-academia linkage.
The prime minister urged the business sector to ensure the availability of raw materials in the construction industry to reduce the import bill.
He said introducing the housing finance facility by the government for the low-income group, that the country’s 220 million population would become an asset as the construction of houses would positively impact all allied industries.
He further said that unfortunately, the previous governments never thought of the poor segment but the government had opened the avenue.
ISLAMABAD: Turkish Government has further eased quarantine regulations for Pakistani nationals intending to travel to Turkey.
Announced on September 2, these regulations will become effective from September 4, says a press release received here on Friday Ankara.
Irrespective of vaccination status, all passengers will submit a negative PCR test result that should be made at most 72 hours before their entry into Turkey.
As per the new regulations, passengers arriving from Pakistan who will have documentary proof of COVID-19vaccination will be exempted from quarantine.
Such vaccination should be of two doses approved by the World Health Organization (except for Johnson & Johnson which is a single dose).
Quarantine exemption will be applied to those vaccinated whose last dose was administered at least 14 days before their travel.
Pakistani travelers who cannot provide proof of vaccination will be quarantined in their residences or addresses that they will declare, tourists will quarantine at their booked hotels.
They will be PCR tested on the 10th day of the quarantine period and in case of a negative result, the quarantine application will be terminated.
The persons who do not take a PCR test on the 10th day will be kept under quarantine for 14 days. In case the test results are positive, the case will be dealt with as per the guidelines of the Turkish Ministry of Health.
Before the Turkish Government announced these revised regulations, the Pakistan Embassy was in constant touch with the relevant Turkish authorities, sharing the status of vaccination and measures in place in Pakistan for controlling the spread of COVID-19 infections.
The Pakistan Missions in Turkey are available to assist our nationals to the best of our abilities. An English translation of the complete notification of the Ministry of Interior of the Turkish Republic is attached for reference.
ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Tuesday announced a reduction in prices of all petroleum products for next fortnight.
A statement issued by the Finance Division the new reduced prices will take effect from September 01, 2021.
According to the notification the price of petrol has been reduced by Rs1.50 to Rs118.30 per liter from Rs119.80.
The price of high speed diesel (HSD) has been reduced by Rs1.50 to Rs115.03 per liter from Rs116.53.
Similarly, the rate of kerosene oil has been reduced by Rs1.50 to Rs86.80 per liter from Rs88.30.
The price of light diesel has been reduced by one rupee to Rs84.77 per liter from Rs85.77.
The statement issued by the finance division said that despite international price fluctuation in petroleum products and anticipated increase in future prices, the government has reduced the price in order to provide maximum relief to the consumer.
The government is firmly committed to ensure stability in prices of essential commodities and has sustained the price pressure in line with its commitment to the common man.
It is pertinent to mention that petroleum levy is kept at minimum which is a clear reflection that the government is fully cognizant of the impact of fuel prices on the prices of basic items that affect people directly.
BIEJING: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Sunday carried fresh batch of 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccines through special flights from Beijing, to Capital International Airport of Islamabad.
The PIA airlifted the Sinovac vaccines obtained from China and brought it to Pakistan for the people under government’s ongoing prevention and control drive against Covid-19.
The PIA Country Manager for China said, “PIA special flights PK-6852, PK-6853, PK-6854 and PK-6856 transported 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccine procured from China for vaccination of people under government’s ongoing prevention and control drive against Covid-19 pandemic.”
He further said that under able leadership of its Chief Executive Officer, Arshad Malik, the national flag carrier had so far airlifted 57 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine through 47 special flights.
He added,“Till now, PIA has brought around 17 million doses of Sinopharm and 40 million doses of Sinovac and CanSino vaccines from China to Pakistan.”
It is worth mentioning that the government under its mass vaccination drive has set a target to vaccinate 75 million population by end of 2021.
So far, over 32 million vaccines have been administered with a maximum of 1.07 million doses in a day on August 02.
Chinese vaccines namely Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino besides other vaccines are being used in the mass vaccination drive.
The health authorities launched the nationwide vaccination drive with around a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March this year.
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday said that Prime Minister Imran has launched a new housing scheme to facilitate Non-Resident Pakistanis (NRPs) in buying houses for themselves and their families.
The central bank in a statement said that the prime minister praised the efforts and hard work of the SBP and government agencies in crossing another impressive milestone of $2 billion in deposits in Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) and developing an exclusive product, Roshan Apna Ghar, for Overseas Pakistanis’ investment in housing in Pakistan.
He said that RDA has provided an excellent platform to overseas Pakistanis to digitally connect to Pakistan’s banking system and meet their financial services needs in Pakistan.
The prime minister was addressing a gathering of Ministers, Presidents and CEOs of Banks, SBP officials and other distinguished guests at the launch of Roshan Apna Ghar – an initiative of SBP for overseas Pakistanis.
The Prime Minister expressed optimism that Roshan Apna Ghar would facilitate overseas Pakistanis to buy a house for themselves and / or their families in Pakistan, which has been quite difficult for many of them due to host of manual procedures, mandatory physical visits to Pakistan with long stay to complete the process and the hassle of trips to many offices.
He said that with the introduction of Roshan Apna Ghar, an end to end digital process right from submission of application to the bank to disbursement of funds by banks, overseas Pakistanis would find it much easier to buy a housing unit in Pakistan for themselves or their loved ones either through their own savings or bank financing.
In his welcome address, Governor SBP, Dr. Reza Baqir thanked the Prime Minister for his vision and firm resolve to integrate the overseas Pakistani community with the country’s economy.
Highlighting the performance of Roshan Digital Account, he said that RDA is now a very well established brand, which has so far connected over 215,000 expats with the country’s banking system and attracted over $2,050 million since its launch in September last year. He said it took about 8 months to cross the first major milestone of $1 billion whereas the next 1 billion were received in less than 4 months, which is indicative of the increasing momentum.
Introducing the new product, Dr. Baqir said that Roshan Apna Ghar is an initiative of SBP for Non Resident Pakistanis (NRPs)to buy, build or renovate their homes in Pakistan through own investment or bank financing.
Complete information on the initiative as well as directions on how to avail it are available at the SBP portal. Overseas Pakistanis will be able to complete their transaction completely remotely and digitally and their investment will be fully repatriable.
He elaborated that financing is available in both conventional and Shariah compliant variants at attractive rates for a period of three to 25 years.
Through the Roshan Apna Ghar initiative, overseas Pakistanis will also be able to obtain financing under the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar scheme of the government as well that has been exclusively designed for those who do not already own a house and offers financing at economical rates starting from 3 percent.
Governor Baqir emphasized that SBP, with the support of all stakeholders, will continue to bring as much ease as possible for overseas Pakistanis.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, said that the innovation of Roshan Digital Account has proved to be a huge success and instrumental in receiving substantial investment of over $1.4 billion in Naya Pakistan Certificates.
He lauded the introduction of Roshan Apna Ghar by State Bank and said that it is another splendid idea of SBP and will attract substantial investment in the real estate sectorby overseas Pakistanis.
He went on to add that both NPCs and the Roshan Apna Ghar are here to achieve the greater goal of attracting investments by overseas Pakistanis, which are more sustainable and reliable.
He said that Ministry of Finance with the help of State Bank will make every effort to introduce new avenues of investments for overseas Pakistanis.
Under Roshan Apna Ghar, two types of financing facilities are being offered. First, Standard Financing in which both lien based and non-lien based financing is available.
In lien-based financing, the NRPs can obtain house finance facility against lien on their RDA deposit balances or Naya Pakistan Certificates. Banks can finance up to 100 per cent of the property value for purchase or construction of a house; for renovation of house, financing is capped at 40 per cent of the property value.
Non-lien based financing is the typical housing finance offered against mortgage of the property to be purchased; banks may fund up to 85% of the property value for purchase or construction of house, and up to 30% of the property value for renovation of house.
Second, the house financing facility under Mera Paksitan Mera Ghar (Government Mark-up Subsidy Scheme) is also available for RDA holders under Roshan Apna Ghar product as per already defined criteria under respective tiers.
In this case, the financing rates applicable to the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar scheme would apply.Insurance of the property, up to the extent of financing amount, is also free.
The airline recorded net revenue of Rs27.64 billion for the half year (January – June) 2021 as compared with Rs51.47 billion in the same half of the last year.
However, the losses of the company reduced sharply during the period. The net losses of the airline came down to Rs25 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2021 as compared with Rs36.536 billion in the corresponding half of the last year.
The airline said the cost of services reduced to Rs36.84 billion for the half year under review as compared with Rs55.7 billion in the same half of the last year.
Out of cost of services, the cost on aircraft fuel fell to Rs7.63 billion as compared with Rs14.65 billion.
Meanwhile, other costs of services, including salaries, wages and allowances also came down to Rs29.21 billion in the first half of 2021 as compared with Rs41 billion in the same half of the last year.
Administrative expenses fell to Rs2.59 billion when compared with Rs3.09 billion.
The airline made an exchange gain of Rs1.32 billion as compared with loss of Rs9.76 billion in the same half of the last year.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that his government has put the economy on right track despite various challenges, including COVID-19.
Presenting three years performance of Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf (PTI) government, the prime minister said during the last three years, the current account deficit has been significantly reduced from $20 billion in 2018 to $1.8 billion, foreign exchange reserves increased from $16.4 billion to $27 billion, revenue collection from Rs 3800 billion to Rs. 4700 billion, workers’ remittances from $19.9 billion to $ 29.4 billion.
Imran said that when the present government took reign of affairs in 2018, the country with the highest ever $20 billion of current account deficit was close to default and rupee was depreciating.
“If the friendly countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE and China did not help Pakistan, rupee in the country would have further depreciated,” he added.
The Prime Minister also mentioned 18 per cent growth in the Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector as well as 42 per cent increase in cement sale during the previous fiscal and said it showed enhanced industrial activity.
He said that the receipt of an additional income of Rs 1100 billion by the farmers in agriculture sector and the historic sales of motorbikes, cars and tractors during the previous fiscal also depicted prosperity in rural areas.
The Prime Minister said that the government’s successful strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic also led to saving the economy and poor masses, adding, the international institutions including the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization appreciated Pakistan’s strategy on COVID-19.
He said that despite the criticism by opposition parties, the government did not go for complete lockdown of the economy, which, if opted, would have caused increase in poverty and hunger like in India.
The Prime Minister appreciated the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) for its timely and effective decisions to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Prime Minister said his message to the youth was to follow the sublime path, set by Allah Almighty and Last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “We have to learn from the life and teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).”
He said sports did inspire him to never give up and keep on striving and cited the example of Quaid-e-Azam who strove for a great cause and succeeded in creating Pakistan.
He said due to economic mismanagement of the past, the people had to endure price hike and inflation and the government had to take loans from International Monetary Fund (IMF) on stringent conditionalities.
He thanked Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force for countering aggression of India after the Pulwama incident and said there was no reason to have critical views about national institutions.
He said the PTI government was fully committed to its three guiding principles of humanity, rule of law and self-respect.
He said no country could progress if there was no of rule of law. He recalled that Asif Ali Zardari landed in jail because of his corrupt practices whenever the PPP government was ousted in the past.
He said the countries got weakened when the ministers indulged in corruption and cited the Holy Prophet’s system of justice of the Riyasat-e-Madinah.
He referred to a UN report which pointed out that $1000 billion was being transferred from developing countries to the developed ones every year which resulted in a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
According to another report, $10 billion was sent from Pakistan every year to bank accounts abroad to purchase properties there, he added.
He said the anti-corruption department of Punjab had recovered only Rs 2.5 billion during the regime of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz while in the tenure of present government, its recoveries stood at Rs 450 billion. Similarly, the recoveries of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) rose to Rs 519 billion in the last three years from Rs 290 billion in 18 years, he added.
Imran Khan said for the first time, the PTI government launched Ehsaas programme and enhanced the social sector allocation from Rs 110 billion to Rs 260 billion.
The World Bank declared Pakistan’s Ehsaas programme as the third best in the world, he said and added the programme played a vital role in taking care of the poor during the coronavirus pandemic.
Additional funds were allocated for scholarships of girls as compared to the funds for boys, the PM said and added the government empowered women with renewed focus on their education.
He said the government took steps to fully facilitate women in getting succession certificates and share of inheritance.
Under the Kamyab Naujwan Programme, he said, youth of four million poor families would be given interest-free loans, health insurance cards, and skills training.
Easy interest-free loans were given so that low income groups could build affordable houses, he said, adding 30 percent of the country’s population consisted of the youth.
Imran Khan said farmers would be given subsidy through Kisaan Card so that they could buy fertilizers, pesticides and other agriculture inputs.
Ten reservoirs including Mohmand and Dassu dams would be built to meet water requirements, he added.
He said uniform curriculum would be introduced and Seerat-e-Nabi courses would be taught in classes from eight to ten.
Expressing concern over the rising crimes against women and children, he underlined the need for character building of the youth with imbibing moral values.
He told the audience about Rs1300 billion special packages for merged tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and districts of Balochistan, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan to eliminate backwardness and deprivation of local people.
The Prime Minister said the past leaderships did compromise dignity of the country by begging and getting loans from other states. Pakistan could make rapid progress by developing its agriculture, industry, mining, tourism and banking sectors, he opined.
He said today business confidence had markedly improved in the country while foreign remittances were on the rise.
He recalled Pakistan sided with the United States in the war on terror but latter carried out 480 drone attacks on its soil.
Over 70,000 Pakistanis lost their lives in the war fought on behalf of another country, he added.
The Prime Minister said the Afghan defence forces declined to fight for their corrupt leaders.
He called upon the world to support the Taliban as they wanted an inclusive government in Afghanistan, and declared general amnesty for all, besides assurance that no one would be allowed to carry out terrorist attacks from their soil against other countries.
He said the world community should help the Taliban to maintain peace in Afghanistan.
Imran Khan recalled that Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, folk singer Attaullah Khan Esakhailvi, Ibrarul Haq and many others played an important role in taking forward Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
He thanked the allies including Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid), Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Grand Democratic Alliance for extending support to the PTI government during the last three years.
