News Analysis |
The Ministry of Railways has demanded Rs 73 billion for ongoing and new projects in the next Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for fiscal year 2018-19 out of the upcoming budget. The ministry has demanded Rs 70.5 billion for ongoing projects while Rs 2.5 billion for new projects, according to a document, a local publication reported.
The document said that Rs 5,861 million had been proposed for procurement of 585 Hopper Wagons and 20 bogie brake vans for coal transportation. The ministry has also demanded Rs 8,863 million for procurement of 780 High Capacity Bogie (Hopper) wagons and 20 bogie brake vans for transportation coal. Rs 6558.524 million has been proposed for rehabilitation of 27 HGMU-30 class diesel electric locomotives, the document added.
A sum of Rs 7,142.102 million has been demanded for rehabilitation of rolling stock, tack, repairing of 800 coaches, 2,000 wagons and acquisition of land for railway container yard, station and railway line from sea port to coastal highway at Gwadar.
The loss caused by these attacks ran into billions of rupees and since then Pakistan Railways has been trying to repair and rehabilitate damaged rail engines, stations, buildings and bridges.
The document said that Rs 1,703.5 million had also been suggested in the PSDP for doubling of existing track from Port Qasim to bin Qasim Station, feasibility study to connect Gwadar with Karachi, and feasibility from Gwadar to Besima and from Besima to Jacobabad via Khuzdar.
Rs 11,022.634 million has been proposed for preliminary design for up-gradation of main line (ML-1), establishment of dry-port near Havelian under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and hiring of design vetting consultations and reopening of rail car from Kohat to Rawalpindi on experimental basis.
Read more: Pakistan Railways bringing in three new services
Pakistan Railways has also locked in arrangements for the upgradation and construction of more than 50,000 kilometres of tracks across the country on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. In this regard, the railways ministry has invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the pre-qualification of contractors, after which 10 companies were selected through a bidding process, a local publication quoted sources. The BOT mechanism will resolve financing issues, which have remained one of the main hurdles in the way of implementing various projects, GVS reported earlier.
A sum of Rs 7,142.102 million has been demanded for rehabilitation of rolling stock, tack, repairing of 800 coaches, 2,000 wagons and acquisition of land for railway container yard, station and railway line from sea port to coastal highway at Gwadar.
The sources said that rehabilitation and improvement of existing tracks would also be carried out to achieve higher speeds of up to 160 km per hour for which feasibility studies of some of the sections were being conducted.
Read more: Pakistan Railways on the right track
There have been extensive repair works going on by the only profitable government public service organization on the century-old railway tracks. Yet, in a controversial move, the Government has decided to raise the cost of the 11-year old rehabilitation project of the railways infrastructure that was destroyed by mob violence and vandalism in 2007 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The proposed raise in the total cost is 34.6%, Global Village Space earlier reported.
The loss caused by these attacks ran into billions of rupees and since then Pakistan Railways has been trying to repair and rehabilitate damaged rail engines, stations, buildings and bridges. Rioters had torched 35 locomotives, 139 coaches and 65 stations, damaged 36 bridges and 27 manned level crossings, uprooted signal and communication systems and tracks besides six tracks machines and cranes in the Karachi and Sukkur divisions of the railways, suspending all kinds of rail traffic to and from the Sindh capital.