ISLAMABAD:Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has termed the public-private partnership as inevitable to streamline the operations of Railways and make it as a profitable entity. Giving details of the steps taken for uplift of Pakistan Railways at a news conference here in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said about twenty-five to thirty billion dollars investment is needed to transform the entire infrastructure of Pakistan Railways.
The Minister said ML-1 project will prove to be a game changer for Railways and for this purpose, the government is paying special attention this project. On the occasion, the Secretary Railways Mazhar Ali Shah gave a detailed briefing about the ongoing developmental projects of the department.
Terming the ML-1 project as a transformational project for the country, he said it will not only reduce the cost of doing business up to 33 percent, but also bring significant increase in the market share of Railways to 20 percent from 4 percent.
He revealed that Railways network would be connected to Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan via Kohat under the trilateral agreement of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The Secretary said new induction including power plants and 230 new coaches in the Railways system will help rationalize the operations of the department.
He said e-Procurement system is being introduced to avoid the issue of malfeasance in Pakistan Railways. He revealed that land has been acquired in Gwadar to construct Railway Station in order to connect it with Railways network in rest of the country.
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