Transport sector has room for improvement

Railways minister urges public-private partnership

LAHORE: Pakistan Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that public-private partnership is of utmost importance as there is a lot of scope for improvement in the transport sector.

Speaking at a seminar on Public-Private Partnership in Development of Transport Infrastructure, jointly organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and Pakistan Railways, he said that maximum benefit should be derived from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“We want to improve infrastructure, rolling stock of railways, besides bringing private partners for passenger and freight areas.”

He said that opportunities should be availed, as they are looking to outsource three trains, adding that after ML1 they were interested in working on ML2 and ML3 on which practical work would hopefully start in two years.

Pakistan Railways Chief Executive Officer Javed Anwar said, “Transport plays a significant role in the economy of a country and public private partnership is a good approach in this regard.”

CILT Executive Honorary Secretary Brig (R) Salahuddin highlighted some of the main objectives of the seminar among which were; to emphasise the need of public-private partnership policy in development of infrastructure particularly related to transport sector and to encourage the export sector to participate in Pakistan transport infrastructure development.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2016.

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