Orange train: Chinese contractor agrees to release 2nd loan tranche

Hassaan says nearly 39% of civil works for the project have been completed


Imran Adnan July 13, 2016
Project documents show that out of the $1.6 billion loan amount, around $1 billion will be released to CR-NORINCO, and the rest to the government. PHOTO: APP

LAHORE: China Railways (CR) and China North Industries Corporation (Norinco International) have agreed in principle to release the second tranche of the Rs165 billion soft loan for Lahore Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project.

This was stated by OLMT Project Steering Committee Chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Chinese contractors had expressed reservations on the quality of the construction work and linked the payment of the installment to inspections.

In the steering committee meeting on Wednesday, the government directed the OLMT Package-1 (Dera Gujjran to Chauburji) contractor to facilitate the Chinese engineers and National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) in their inspections.

“Chinese contractors were of the view that we might not have completed the work. But now they are satisfied and have agreed to release the next installment of the loan. Overall 37 to 39 per cent civil works of the metro train has been completed,” Hassaan said.

He said the meeting had also approved installation of u-tubs in the elevated portions of Package-1. “The contractors are importing some parts required for installing of the u-tubs. The shipment will arrive in a couple of weeks. Then the process of u-tub installation will start. Chinese contractors have already approved the quality and strength of locally-built u-tubs,” Hassaan said.

He said the meeting had also decided to restore all schools affected by construction work for the OLMT project. “The education EDO has been directed to make the schools functional before the end of the summer holidays. The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and project contractors have been directed to ensure the timely completion of the schools,” he said.

“The pace of work on Pakage-1 is quite satisfactory. However, there are some problems with the work on Package-2 (from Chauburji to Ali Razaabad). The contractor has not completed backfilling around pile caps. This is causing inconvenience to commuters. The LDA has now been asked to complete the backfilling in 10 days and recover the cost from the contractor,” he said.

Hassaan said problems were also being faced by Package-1 contractors in pavement of roads near Lakshmi Chowk as the WASA had installed generators on the road. “WASA officials have been asked to remove the generators from the road,” he said.

Habib Construction Services (HCS) CEO Shahid Saleem said he believed inspection should be carried out after installation of u-tubs. “However, the Chinese engineers have insisted on starting the inspections earlier. We are not opposed to this. We have already started facilitating the Chinese engineers and NESPAK,” he said.

The first installment of the loan - Rs34 billion - had been transferred to Pakistan by CR-NORINCO in May after rigorous scrutiny and a lengthy documentation process. The 27-kilometre metro train project has been funded through a soft loan.

Project documents show that out of the $1.6 billion loan amount, around $1 billion will be released to CR-NORINCO, and the rest to the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2016.

COMMENTS (1)

Sheraz | 7 years ago | Reply This is white elephant. It will eat the poor Pakistanis.
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