Minister for Finance and Privatisation Syed Naveed Qamar has said that community participation is vital for sustainable development.

He was speaking at a public rally in Ahmedabad, a hamlet 15 kilometres north of Aliabad, the headquarter of Hunza, after opening a hydro-power project.

The 350-KVA micro-hydel power station was constructed by the villagers with the technical help of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and financial assistance of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF).

Sugar Cane Grower's Association (SCGA) has submitted a plan to the Government of Punjab for the setting up a 1000-1200 tons crushing per day (TCD) ethanol plant from sugarcane juice at Mamoo Kanjan, in district Faisalabad. The cost of setting up the plant would be around $10 million, which would produce around 2.0 mw electricity because of high pressure steam technology.

The proposed framework for tackling climate change is robust and balanced. Modifications to the universality and simplicity of the emissions trading regime are only proposed where there are overwhelming arguments for doing so. Coal-based electricity generators get differential treatment because their future investment decisions are central to tackling climate change. If the value of their existing assets is virtually eliminated overnight, their capacity to make those investments in low emission technologies will be crippled.

Dis-trict Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has said that the water supply system will be directly linked with an automatic changeover system under which the supply will not be affected even during the power loadshedding.

He was speaking at a meeting of officials of the Hyderabad Development Authority, Wasa, Hyderabad Development Package and Hesco at his secretariat on Friday.

Mr Jamil said all central pumping stations would be directly linked with a high-tension line through an automatic changeover switch system to ensure uninterrupted water supply to the people even during loadshedding.

Australian households will receive either tax cuts or increased family payments to offset higher electricity and fuel prices, as the government admits its climate change plan will drive up inflation. The framework of Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has been released in Canberra, detailing the government's plan to meet its target of bringing down greenhouse emissions by 60% by 2050. The higher family assistance may start before the trading system begins on July 1, 2010, possibly ahead of the next election.

B.S. Satish Kumar BANGALORE: The power shortage assumed crisis proportions in Karnataka on Monday. Depletion of storage at hydel resources and technical snag at a generating unit at the Raichur Thermal Power Station have aggravated the problem. The power utilities resorted to unscheduled loadshedding throughout the State, including Bangalore, to make up for the power shortage. Many areas in Bangalore faced loadshedding varying from 90 minutes to two hours during peak demand while the loadshedding was even more in the remaining parts of the State.

Pakistan on Monday signed two agreements with the World Bank for making improvement in electricity distribution and transmission infrastructure worth 256.7 million dollars and water sector capacity building and advisory services for its efficient management worth 38 million dollars. The financing agreements for both projects were signed by acting Secretary of Economic Affairs Division Junaid Iqbal Chaudhry on behalf of the government of Pakistan and Country Director Yousapha B. Crookes on behalf of the World Bank.

Call it a quirk of fate. When B.S. Yeddyurappa took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka's first BJP government on May 30, 2008, he did so in the name of the farmer. He knew he owed his present position to him. The first decision of his Cabinet was also seen as pro-farmer: the government announced that it would not charge them for the electricity sold to power irrigation pumpsets. However, a few days later, when his police opened fire to control a mob of violent protestors, the first victim, Siddalingappa Choori (35), was a farmer. Several others were wounded.

Decades of investment in civilian nuclear power puts france in the energy catbird seat.

France ranks 10th in the EPI because of its supply of clean energy.

France, as the next head of the E.U., faces the challenge of adopting clean fuel and finding new energy sources. An overhead network of gas pipelines at a refuelling terminal in Lille. Almost 100,000 tonnes of local organic waste is treated annually to produce biogas which is used to run 75 per cent of the city's public buses.