ABU DHABI // The Ministry of International Cooperation and Development (Micad) said it was satisfied with the progress and performance of UAE-funded projects in Pakistan.
According to a report released by the ministry on Sunday, a Micad team recently visited Pakistan to review three healthcare facilities, two of which are under construction, and two bridges in Swat, a region that has been affected by flooding and terrorism.
The team found that performance was in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development assistance committee’s standards, and the framework set by Micad.
The Dh18.4 million Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Model Hospital, which is under construction, is expected be able to treat 450 patients a day. It will have three operating rooms, 200 beds for in-patients and two ambulances.
A second hospital, the Emirates Hospital in Rawalpindi, is being built at a cost of Dh396 million and will offer health and treatment services to more than two million people a year.
It will have the capacity for up to 50 operations a day, with 16 operating rooms and 1,000 beds for in-patients.
The two hospitals aim to support Pakistan in lowering the mortality rates of children and women, reduce the proportion of common diseases and decrease infection rates in the region.
The third project is the Paramedic Institute in Saidu Sharif Swat, which opened this year and aims to produce at least 500 graduates every two years.
It offers diplomas in areas including radiology, haematology, anaesthesia, cardiovascular diseases, diagnosis of infectious diseases, mental illness, kidney disease, accidents, dentistry and physiotherapy.
“The people of Swat are very grateful to the UAE Government for helping them in difficult times,” said Prof Taj Muhammad Khan, the senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government official in the Swat region.
Prof Khan said that the area had suffered a lot because of natural disasters and terrorism.
He said that the Paramedic Institute was not only providing high-quality education, but was also providing employment.
The Micad team also visited two bridges which were funded by the UAE Government and opened about two years ago.
The Dh38.6m Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Bridge is 448.5 metres long, 10.7m wide and reaches a height of 7m. Two million people and four thousand vehicles use it each year.
The second, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Bridge, is 330m long, 10m wide, and reaches a height of 6m. It was built at a cost of Dh45.7m and is used by 70,000 people and 5,000 vehicles a year.
A Pakistani army official supervising maintenance and security of both bridges said that the densely populated Swat valley was divided by the river and highly dependent on the bridges.
After the floods in Swat in 2010, all the bridges in the region were destroyed.
“The bridges have not only connected the people but also play a crucial role in promoting local trade,” the official said.
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Directed by: Anthony Mandler
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Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
