KARACHI: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are all set to complete by October 2019 the pre-feasibility study for a multi-billion dollar oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan’s deepwater port of Gwadar, the chairman of the Pakistani board of investment said on Tuesday.
In February, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he had signed investment agreements worth over $20 billion during a high-profile visit to Pakistan, including for the $10 oil refinery.
A pre-feasibility study will set the future course of action for the construction of the mega project, Haroon Sharif, the chairman of the Pakistan Board of Investment, told Arab News.
“The work is in progress. A Pakistani technical team visited the Kingdom last month and decided steps and timeline,” he said. “By October this year we will complete the pre-feasibility study. Both sides have agreed on the course of actions at their ends … who will conduct what part of the study ... how teams and steering committee will be constituted.”
Setting up the oil refinery and $1 billion petrochemical complex is at the top of the Saudi investment agenda for Pakistan. To push the project forward, a facilitation unit has been set up at Pakistan State Oil House in Karachi.
“International consultants have been hired for the study,” Sharif said. “They will explore everything from a refining capacity of 300,000 barrel per day bpd to petrochemical complex. After completion of the pre-feasibility study, we will decide about the future course of action and proper feasibility will be made.”
Last month, a Pakistani technical team participated in a workshop arranged by Saudi Aramco.
“Similarly, a Saudi team is due in Pakistan after Eid next month to further discuss project details,” the board of investment chairman said.
Groundwork on the project is expected to start within 18 months after the completion of the feasibility study. The whole project will take 3-5 years from inception to commissioning.
Pakistan currently imports more than 50 percent of petroleum products, which it aims to substitute with local production once the Gwadar refinery starts production. Analysts expect that the country would be able to save around $2 billion annually on the import of crude once the project comes online.
Pakistan wants to attract investment and other financial support to tackle a soaring current account deficit caused partly by rising oil prices. Last year, Saudi Arabia offered Pakistan a $6 billion package that included help to finance crude imports. Last week, the country signed a $6 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Beijing has pledged $60 billion as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that involves building power stations, major highways, new and upgraded railways and higher capacity ports, to help turn Pakistan into a major overland route linking western China to the world.
In Gwadar, China is building a strategic port on the Arabian Sea.
Pre-feasibility of $10 bln Saudi oil refinery to be ready by October, Pakistan says
Pre-feasibility of $10 bln Saudi oil refinery to be ready by October, Pakistan says
- Islamabad’s technical team visited Kingdom last month and decided on first steps and timeline
- Saudi team due in Pakistan after Eid next month for further discussions
Nearly 25% of Pakistan’s primary schools enrolling girls operate as single-teacher ones— report
- Pakistan needs over 115,000 more teachers in primary schools enrolling girls to meet global benchmark of one teacher per 30 students, says report
- Sixty percent of Pakistani primary schools enrolling girls are overcrowded, while 32% lack clean drinking water or toilets, says Tabadlab report
ISLAMABAD: Nearly 25% of Pakistan’s primary schools that enrolls girls operate as single-teacher ones, a report by a leading think tank said this week, calling on the government to devolve teacher recruitment powers, upskill underutilized teachers and introduce reforms to hire and promote faculty members.
Pakistan faces an acute education crisis which is reflected in the fact that it has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children, an estimated 22.8 million aged 5-16 who are not in educational institutions, according to UNICEF.
While poverty remains the biggest factor keeping children out of classrooms, Pakistan’s education crisis is exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and underqualified teachers, cultural barriers and the impacts of frequently occurring natural disasters.
According to “The Missing Ustaani,” a report published by Islamabad-based think tank Tabadlab and supported by Malala Fund and the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE), Pakistan needs over 115,000 more teachers in primary schools with girls’ enrolment to meet the basic international benchmark of ensuring one teacher per 30 children. Currently, the average Student-to-Teacher Ratio (STR) across Pakistan’s primary schools with girls’ enrolment is 39:1, it said.
“Approximately 60% of these schools are overcrowded, necessitating the recruitment of over 115,000 additional teachers nationwide,” the report said on Monday. “Compounding this, nearly 25% of primary schools with girls’ enrolment operate as single-teacher schools, placing immense pressure on the quality of education.”
It said the situation is more dire in Pakistan’s poverty-stricken southwestern Balochistan province, where nearly 52% of the schools are single-teacher only ones while the percentage decreases slightly in the southern Sindh province to 51 percent.
The report said while the STR improves to 25:1 at the middle school level, acute shortages of subject specialists emerge as the top-priority concern for quality education in these schools.
“Furthermore, around 32% of primary schools with girls’ enrolment and 18% of middle schools face ‘critical infrastructural shortages’— lacking clean drinking water or toilets in addition to high STRs— which significantly affects girls’ attendance and learning, particularly during adolescence,” the report said.
The report cited a set of priority recommendations to address Pakistan’s systemic teacher deployment challenges and improve educational equity for girls.
It urged the government to devolve recruitment authority to school or cluster levels to enable timely, context-specific hiring. It also called upon authorities to reform teacher transfer and promotion policies to introduce school-specific postings with minimum service terms.
This, it said, would reduce arbitrary transfers and improving continuity in classrooms. The report advised authorities to upskill surplus or underutilized primary teachers to support instruction at the middle school level, helping address subject-specialist shortages.
“Together, these reforms offer a pathway toward a more equitable, efficient, and responsive teaching workforce— one capable of improving learning outcomes and ensuring that every girl in Pakistan has access to a qualified teacher,” the report said.
To tackle Pakistan’s education crisis, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared an ‘education emeregency’ in September 2024, stressing the importance of education for all.
