Pakistan China undertake saline water research

KARACHI (November 28 2004): Cooperation between China and Pakistan in the research on the project for making the saline water useful for cultivation of various crops will effectively benefit both the friendly countries.

This was expressed by Karachi University's Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, on the occasion of a three-day visit of a Chinese delegation consisting renowned scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences to the KU Department of Botany, a release said on Saturday.

The VC welcomed the guest delegation and appreciated their spirit for promotion of development efforts in the field deserving real attention of the concerned scientists.

He pointed out to the delegation that a considerably large coastal area in Pakistan could benefit from such a healthy project creating employment opportunities and bringing in progress and prosperity in the rural areas linked to those lands.

As there were bright chances of experiencing positive results of the experiments on such coastal strips, the ultimate outcome of such schemes were likely to prove beneficial for the national economy of Pakistan, he said.

The Chinese delegation comprises of Professor Dr Qijun Ma, Dr Ziumei Zhanmg and Dr Weiqiang Li, which will finalise sixteen scientific and technical in protocols to enhance the research activities between scientists of both the countries.

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China to provide solar energy technology

BEIJING (November 28 2004): China has agreed to provide technical assistance to Pakistan for developing cheap electricity through solar energy. "We can particularly help in manufacturing solar collector tubes which can be used providing inexpensive electricity," said an official of Jiangsu Solar Energy Resources Institute.

A delegation of technical experts has already visited Pakistan for undertaking joint ventures to develop such tubes as well as other methods of producing thermal solar energy. "We are also prepared for transfer of technology to Pakistan for the development of renewable energy," he said in an interview with APP.

The two countries have bright prospects to co-operate under the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the two countries last year which aim at producing electricity through renewable energy resources. In China, plate solar energy collectors and full-glass vacuum tube solar-energy water heaters have already formed into a production industry.

For the last several years, China has successfully developed a heat-pipe type of vacuum tube water-heaters which can live up to international advanced standard and can be applied in good prospects, he added.

According to sources, some other Chinese companies have also offered to help Pakistan in developing the inexpensive energy to meet its fuel requirements, especially for cooking purposes. Some experimental biogas projects have already been set up in the rural areas of Islamabad and Abbottabad.

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Chinese workers security tightened as tribesmen protest

MULTAN (January 07 2005): Government stepped up security on Thursday for Chinese engineers working at a gas project after angry tribesmen demanding jobs and healthcare besieged the area, an official said. Some 40 personnel from the border military police and a local force were guarding six Chinese engineers and Pakistani staff at the site, local administrator Syed Imtiaz Shah told AFP.

The tribesmen had erected roadblocks to stop food and other supplies reaching the exploration project near the rural town of Taunsa Sharif, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) south-west of Multan city, he said.

The latest incident happened after members of the Qaisrani tribe pressed the government give them jobs and health facilities, Shah said.

"We have accepted the demands of Qaisrani tribe ... but some miscreants were instigating them."

A tribal elder said the government had found huge natural gas and oil reserves worth millions of dollars from his area, but the locals were living in abject poverty without basic facilities.



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