Islamabad: Pakistan Railways (PR) Chairman Dr Habibur Rehman Gilani on Thursday (October 28) said that the government is waiting for the Chinese authorities to allow initiation for the bidding process of Railways USD 6.8 billion Main Line- 1 (ML-1) project, news sources reported.
The ML-1 project, which would run from Karachi to Peshawar, is scheduled to be completed in five years. According to the Railways, the key difficulty is the anticipated cost of the project, which Pakistan has assessed to be USD 6.8 billion while the Chinese enterprises have an estimate of USD 8 billion.
The Pakistani government has urged that the Chinese authorities begin the early bidding process, and has assured of its willingness to revise the PC-I of the project if the execution costs exceed by over 15%. Furthermore, Pakistan Railways Chairman Dr Habibur Rehman Gilani stated that the government will soon approve a PKR 30 billion project for the renovation of the 460-kilometre-long deteriorating rail route from Khanpur to Sukkur. The PR has already submitted the said project’s Project Concept-1 (PC-1) to the authorities. It is important to note that the ML-1 project is one of the largest railroad infrastructure projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and runs from Karachi to Peshawar covering 1,700 kilometres. The project was finally given a green signal during the recent Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting held in October this year.
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