Pick up the pace of work on ML-I: Umar

Planning minister says govt wants to finalise, implement both ML-1 and Karachi Circular Railway

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Tuesday asked the Financing Committee of Railways Main Line One (ML-I) project to expedite its work by engaging with the Chinese side to finalise terms and conditions of financing the project.

The Financing Committee was constituted by the Planning Commission which has been looking into the modalities for implementation of the project with the regard to the terms and conditions of the financing.

The committee had already asked the Economic Affairs Division to inform the Chinese side of the government of Pakistan's readiness to execute the project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Chairing a meeting to review the present status of preparation and processing of PC-I of the ML-I project and the Pakistan Railway Strategic Plan, the planning minister said the government is keen to improve and upgrade the railways infrastructure in the country and ML-1 is the most important project in this regard.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, Planning Commission deputy chairman, planning secretary, railways secretary and senior officials of both the ministries were in attendance.

The meeting was informed that the umbrella PC-1 of the project was under review in the Planning Commission. Considering the significance of the project as well as the scale of financing required for the project, the Planning Commission is carrying out the required due diligence is consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

For this purpose, the commission also arranged a consultative workshop on the project in the last week of January 2020.

The minister said, “Improvement of efficiency and freight services as well as providing quality travelling facilities to commuters is the government's objective.”

He emphasised on the need for devising a holistic strategy for developing and upgrading infrastructure across the country and filling connectivity gaps for sustained national growth.

The minister said that the railways should expedite the reaming work of 3rd party review so that the same could be processed for approval at the earliest.

“Institutional reforms are inevitable for sustenance of railways and for its future operation and maintenance of the system,” said Umar, adding that the railways should implement reforms and improve the organisational structure in order to be able to handle a much bigger infrastructure.

The minister said that apart from ML-1, the Karachi Circular Railway was also an important project in the same sector, adding that the government wants to finalise and implement both these projects at the earliest.

The railways secretary expressed the desire and readiness of the ministry for executing both the projects at the earliest.

With additional input from APP