LAHORE (March 11, 2010): Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has directed concerned officials to evolve a roadmap to achieve investment of US $1 billion in Greenfield project. He was presiding over a meeting of Board of Directors of Punjab Board of Investment and Trade here on Wednesday, an official disclosed.

ISLAMABAD (March 11, 2010): The government is considering to abolish cross subsidy on supply of feed gas to fertilizer manufacturers and to devise a mechanism of direct subsidy on urea to the farmers, Business Recorder has learnt. The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting on Tuesday approved the recommendations of the ECC subcommittee to review the cross subsidy on feed gas for fertilizer plants under Fertilizer Policy 2001.

KARACHI (March 11, 2010): President and CEO Engro Corporation Limited, Asad Umar, has received the prestigious Marketing Association of Pakistan (MAP) 'Award of Excellence for 2009'. The award is in recognition of Umar's contributions to the field of Marketing and Management, and for his role in Pakistan's economy as one of the country's foremost corporate leaders.

KARACHI (March 11, 2010): All sugar mills in the country on Wednesday ended the sugarcane crushing season 2009-10, it is learnt. According to Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), more than 70 percent sugar mills had stopped crushing on March 1, while the processing units in three sugar producing provinces, including Punjab, Sindh and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), stopped production on March 10, 2010.

KARACHI (March 11, 2010): Rejecting extension request of American bidder for correction of Standby Letter of Credit (SLBC), the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) on Wednesday awarded 50,000 tons of sugar import tender to the second lowest bidder, at $649 per ton. Sources said that after four days of opening of the fifth sugar import tender the TCP award tender to the Dubai-based supplier, Sadan General Trading, as the lowest bidder, American Investment Group (AIG), failed to correct the SBLC.

LAHORE (March 11, 2010): Punjab Food Minister Malik Nadeem Kamran has said provision of sugar to the masses at reasonable rates is the priority of the Punjab government. The government will deal illegal profiteering with iron hands, he added. He stated this while presiding over a meeting regarding stability in the sugar prices, here on Wednesday.

MULTAN (March 11, 2010): The purchase of wheat will commence from April 15 as Punjab government has completed arrangements for the task. This was observed in a meeting presided over by district co-ordination officer Syed Ali Murtuza and attended by director food Punjab Anwar Rasheed, district food controller Chaudhary Mohammad Javed, deputy director food Chaudhary Naveed Arshid, EDO Finance Javed Iqbal and others.

ISLAMABAD (March 11, 2010): Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has threatened to declare the ongoing operations of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) as non-transparent, if mutually agreed decisions are not implemented in letter and spirit, official sources told Business Recorder.

KARACHI (March 11, 2010): Pakistan's first fibreglass fishing boat was inaugurated on Wednesday, which a local boat builder carved out only in four months. The boat named after Bhit Island has been finished below Rs 2 million of cost and has the ability to trawl on the deep sea. Its length is 60-feet, width 20-feet and height 10-feet. Its walls are thick by 2 inches.

LAHORE (March 10, 2010): Mangla dam has reached its dead level of 1,040 feet, therefore the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) is releasing only run of the river water instead of daily 30,000 cusecs water downstream in the river Jhelum command area from Tuesday, consultant Irrigation Punjab, M.H. Siddiqui, told Business Recorder.