Prime minister orders faster ML-1 development, commercial use of recovered railway land and bank financing to strengthen the railways.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed authorities to accelerate the upgradation of Main Line-1 (ML-1) and introduce corporate-style reforms in Pakistan Railways to transform the organisation into a stronger and economically self-sufficient entity.
Chairing a review meeting on railway reforms, the prime minister said ML-1 should be developed on a commercial basis by effectively utilising railway land worth billions of rupees that had been recovered from encroachments.
Shehbaz appreciated the efforts of joint teams of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Ministry of Railways, led by the NAB chairman, in identifying and retrieving encroached railway land.
The prime minister said ML-1 was crucial for the revival and modernisation of Pakistan Railways, improving passenger services and expanding freight transportation. He stressed the need to unlock the commercial potential of railway properties to support both the railways and the wider national economy.
He said valuable railway land should be utilised efficiently for commercial projects, while corporate-style reforms should remain a key government priority to make Pakistan Railways financially stronger and self-sustaining.
The prime minister also appreciated Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi for efforts to improve railway operations and profitability. He approved the use of bank financing through commercial projects on railway land to support the construction of ML-1.
Shehbaz directed the authorities to submit a comprehensive strategy within two weeks covering the commercial utilisation of recovered railway land and arrangements for bank financing for ML-1.
ML-1 divided into four sections
The meeting was informed that the 1,726-kilometre ML-1 project has been divided into four major sections: Karachi-Rohri, Rohri-Multan, Multan-Lahore and Lahore-Peshawar.
International financing is being utilised for the Karachi-Rohri section, while the remaining sections are planned to be financed through local resources.
Participants were briefed on the various phases of the ML-1 project, progress on the Karachi-Rohri section and the current status of railway-owned land.
Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb and Hanif Abbasi, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani, State Bank Governor Jamil Ahmed, NAB Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt and other senior officials attended the meeting.