Up-gradation of Kharachi to Peshawar railway line deferred

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday deferred the approval of much-awaited upgradation of Mainline-1 railway from Peshawar to Karachi and construction of the Havelian Dry Port with estimated cost of $9.172 billion with 90 percent Chinese loan.

The multi-billion project is proposed to seek loan of $8.255 billion from China under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) while the Pakistani side will finance $917.23 million through Public Sector Development Program (PSDP). The ML-1 project was deferred during the Central Development Working Party (CDWO) meeting held under Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jenhanzeb Khan here on Wednesday.

The different ministries, including Planning Commission, raised objections on various aspects of financing of this project and asked the Ministry of Railways to remove loopholes in the PC-1 in the next meeting. The PC-1 submitted by the Ministry of Railways proposed execution of ML-1 in three phases to be completed in three packages over nine years period from January 2021 to December 2029.

The ML-1 starts from Karachi, passes through Kotri-Hyderabad, Rohri, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi and terminates at Peshawar. The line is 1,872 km long, including the 55-km-long Taxila-Havelian section and 91-km-long Lodhran-Khanewal section.

The project envisages upgradation of ML-1, establishment of a dry port near Havelian Railway Station, upgradation of Pakistan Railway Academy Walton in Lahore, passenger facilities, development of important railway stations, including those at Karachi, Hyderabad and Rohri in Sindh, besides Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi in Punjab. Similarly, railway stations at Nowshera and Peshawar would be upgraded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The upgradation of ML-I will be carried out as the speed of passenger trains would increase from 110 km/h to 160 km/h, speed of the freight trains will aslo increase to 120km/h.

The new track would have a 25-ton axle load against the existing 22.86 permissible axle load. Also the line capacity will increase from 34 to 171 trains per day and the trail load on the freight trains would increase from 2,400 to 3,400 tons. The track would be used both for passengers and freight trains. The addition of 814 km new track would result in doubling the entire track from Karachi to Peshawar. Besides, the existing 2,655 km track will be upgraded. Also the grade separation would ensure safety of train operations and result in elimination of manned and unmanned level crossings and fencing for track isolation.

According to official announcement, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting on Wednesday was presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan. The CDWP approved three projects worth Rs1.04 billion and recommended one position paper worth Rs20.337 billion to ECNEC for consideration.

Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, senior officials from federal governments also participated in the meeting while representatives from provincial governments participated through video conference. Three projects related to transport and communications were presented in the meeting.

The first project “Establishment of Business Park at Korangi Fisheries Harbour” worth Rs.784 million was presented by the Ministry of Maritime was approved by CDWP. This envisages the development of Business Park to accommodate industrial units, offices and other associated infrastructure and services centered around one primary product or activity. It will be established on the 320 acres of land available within KPFHA boundary. The second project “Establishment of Cold Storage & Freezing Tunnel at Korangi Fisheries Harbour” worth Rs170.1 million and “Modification of Auction Hall of Korangi Fisheries Harbour” worth Rs 94 million were also approved by CDWP. All the projects were funded under the JICA government.

The Diamer Basha Dam project (acquisition of land and resettlement) worth Rs 175 billion was considered as position paper referred to ECNEC. The CDWP also considered the ML-1 project and threadbare discussion took place. The forum underlining the space for improvement of the proposal deferred it till the next meeting.