Pakistan News And Discussion-9

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>'Pakistan heading towards acute water shortage'</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo--> [/center]

<b>LAHORE - WAPDA Chairman Tariq Hamid said that <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Pakistan is heading towards a situation of acute water shortage due to a rapid growth in population and depleting storage capacity, thus making construction of mega reservoirs inevitable without any further delay.</span></b>

Speaking at a seminar on “Corporate Social Responsibility” as a chief guest here Saturday organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP), the chairman said that there required more than one mega water reservoir to cater the increasing needs of the country in the water and power sector.

Besides Chairman WAPDA Dr. Pervez Hassan Advocate Supreme Court, President Pakistan Environment Association Dr Baela Raza Jameel, Ex-Consultant UNICEF Chairperson ITA, Pakistan, Mr. Zaigham Mahmood Rizvi Chairman/MD, House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), Mr. Nazir Ahmad Shaheen Executive Director SECP, Islamabad, Mr. Kashif Mateen Ansari Chief Operating Officer Army Welfare Trust, Dr. Shahid A Zia Director, Lahore Stock Exchange, Mr. Mutee-ur-Rheman Mirza Vice president, ICMAP and Ms. Faryal Zafar, ACMA were the guest speakers of the event.

Talking about the power sector, the WAPDA Chairman said that the annual growth in electricity consumption during the last four years had risen by 9.8 percent. He said that the load on the WAPDA system increased by 2000 MW during peak hours from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm. “To address the problem of possible shortage of electricity in coming years, we have to generate sufficient electricity at an affordable rate and it is only possible through the construction of big dams”, he suggested.

He said, “Pakistan has a storage capacity of 9 percent to total water available whereas the average storage capacity worldwide stands at about 40 percent”, he observed and warned that Pakistan would be a water-short country, like Chad and Ethiopia, by year 2012, if storage capacity is not enhanced.

“Having a cultivable land base of 77 million acres, Pakistan has a potential to bring 22.6 million acres of new land under cultivation provide additional water is available,” the chairman added. Earlier Mr. Khalid Mahmood, ACMA, Chairman, ICMAP Lahore Branch Council in his address of welcome highlighted the aims and objectives of the seminar with special reference to its theme.

The speakers at the seminar maintained that in the past, a company’s merit was based solely on its financial performance. Stakeholders are now beginning to better understand how corporate behavior affects social, political, and natural environments. With this increase in understanding, comes an increased pressure from investors, consumer, and employees, for companies to consider social and environmental criteria when making business decisions. This has created momentum for using an environmental and financial data when evaluating business operations. Increasingly, stakeholders are concerned that companies they support have business practices that positively impact society while achieving financial success.

CSR can involve almost any aspect of a company’s operations. Every company has a story to tell that sets it apart. It is important for every company to find its story and to tell it.

A company that is considered a good corporate citizen in one that demonstrates a commitment to its stakeholders through socially responsible business practices and transparent operations. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a discipline that aligns business operations with social values. CSR integrates the interests of stakeholders-all of those affected by a company’s conduct-into the company’s business policies and actions. CSR focuses on the social, environmental, and financial success of a company-the triple bottom line, with the goal being to positively impact society while achieving business success. At the end, Mr. Asif Majeed Sheikh, FCMA, Vice Chairman, Lahore Branch Council presented vote of thanks.

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