Islamabad: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Monday directed the Pakistan Railways administration to expedite the upgradation work on rail tracks connecting Karachi and Peshawar (ML-1), a news source reported. This project is currently being developed at a cost of USD 8.2 billion under the aegis of the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC) project.
He expressed his views on the matter during a meeting, which was held to review progress on the ML-1 project. Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Planning Minister Khusro Bakhtiar, Secretary Railways Sikandar Sultan Raja, and CEO/Senior General Manager Pakistan Railways Muhammad Aftab Akbar were all present at the occasion.
The railways minister briefed the participants regarding the changes planned for the ML-1 project; saying it would modernize railways and offer additional amenities to the passengers. An implementation committee, headed by the railways minister, was recently tasked with identifying cost-effective opportunities to run the operations of the railways department.
He informed the meeting that the government had decided to revert to the original ML-1 plan concerning the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode as per the arrangements finalised under the previous financial model; instead of developing the project on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
In response, the prime minister said that the trains were used by common men for taking up long-distance travel; therefore, it was important to secure the journey and assets of Pakistan Railways.
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