Pakistan Railways has decided to construct 12 commercial complexes in parts of the country to overcome Rs54 billion losses.
Spokesperson Shagufta Ansari of Pakistan Railways told ‘The News’ here Saturday that Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour is serious to cover the losses of railways for which he has decided to build 12 commercial complexes in various cities including Rawalpindi, Lahore, Kot Lakhput, Karachi, Sukkur, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Peshawar and Khanewal.
The complexes would have all kind of facilities like departmental stores, canteens, cafeterias, tuck shops, bookstalls and marketing centres like airports. The railway has invited the private entrepreneurs to join hands with it to implement the project. According to the plan, the railway would provide a sizeable portion of the stations to the private parties on lease for opening business centres by constructing complexes. The private parties would be paying fees of the land and business share to railway to enable it to cover the losses.
The minister also wanted to increase freight business. Under this plan incentives would be provided to businessmen. The delivery system of the goods would be improved to restore the confidence of the people particularly the traders, she said.
The railway that suffered huge losses due to destructions made by the angry mobs on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is paying special attention on the purchase and revamping of locomotives
She said that some of the trains are running fast to the much satisfaction of the passengers. The trains running from Rawalpindi to Karachi are providing good services to the people.
