Islamabad: The Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has announced the government’s decision to hire an international consultant to review the detailed engineering plan for the Main Line (ML-1) project — currently being developed under the auspices of the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC), according to news sources.
The international consultant is being hired in order to evaluate the capacity of the existing Railways management and determine whether they can operate this project once the main line from Peshawar to Karachi is modernized. The ML-1 venture is set to have a budget of USD 9.2 billion, and given its scope, the minister stated that the government aims to ensure that the project’s spadework is free of any flaws.
Once the engineering design has been completed, and the international consultant determines the operational capacity of the project, development work on the site can finally be initiated from the next fiscal year. The consultant will take four to five months to complete the ML-1 project evaluation and then the project will be subject to the approval of various relevant forums.
Additionally, the source also reported that China has expressed an intention to operate this project on a EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) basis.
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