The Senate Standing Committee on Railways was informed on Monday that the upgradation cost of Karachi to Peshawar Main Line-1 (ML-1) had been increased to $9.8 billion from $6 billion.
The upper house panel, which met under the chairmanship of Muhammad Qasim, was told that the deal, whether struck in RMB (Chinese currency) or dollars, would not matter.
The railway officials maintained that Karachi Circular Railway was part of the CPEC.
They said that the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club had been in the judicial custody of the Supreme Court for about a year, adding that its international bid would open on July 28.
They noted that the club was with the railways since June 2019 and had been earning.
The golf club was established with the objective of providing recreational facilities to the Pakistan Railways (PR) employees. The club consisted of an 18-hole golf course, a swimming pool, a clubhouse and housing accommodation for the railway's lower staff. In 2000, a decision was made to offer the club on commercial lines to the interested parties to finance, redesign, develop and manage its operations.
The dispute revolved around the land lease to M/s Mainland Husnain Pakistan by the PR allegedly in a non-transparent manner and violation of settled principles to develop the Rs50 billion entity.
The railway chairman said that people who had possession of the club before 2019 were being audited. He said a land of 100 acres was allotted for the club when its advertisement was placed whereas later, its total covered area was increased to 142 acres.
Providing details of the railway's land, the PR officials told the committee that 9,291 acres of land were being used for agriculture whereas 955 acres were leased for domestic purposes.
The body was informed that 221 acres of land were given for commercial purposes and 305 acres were being used for other purposes.
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