China has been involving itself more each passing day, into building transportation infrastructure in Pakistan. The latest example has been of the Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line (ML-1), which had originally been planned to be partially funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, as per the new developments, this railway project would be wholly financed by China. This project worth’s around $8 billion.
Also Read: Paving the Tracks to Prosperity: Chinese Company To Lay Railway Tracks in KP
As per the initial plan, ADB had to finance $3.5 billion (almost half of the project cost), for the Karachi-Peshawar Line, the railway line running across the country connecting opposite ends. Breaking the news of the increased Chinese involvement in a press conference last evening, the Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, announced that the financing for development programs from ADB would now be utilized in the projects under Central Asian regional Economic Cooperation Programme.
Iqbal specified that Beijing had concerns with financing from dual sources, that it might create execution issues in the timely completion of ML-1 project. Pakistan and China will formally sign an agreement in this regard during the next month.
Also Read: $30 Billion in 12 Years – That’s What Pakistan Railways Needs
When asked about the general impression that the Railway Minister has some reservations regarding the increasingly active Chinese participation in the railway infrastructure in the country, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal refused to comment on it.
The Minister stressed that government is not only focusing on the 1700 km railway project, but envisions maximizing the count of completed development projects in the next year – the election year. These projects are essential for sustainable growth of the country, he added.
The Minister also informed that the while Planning Commission had issued a demand of Rs1 trillion for next year’s Public Sector development programme (PSDP), Finance Ministry has set the amount to be not more than Rs700 billion.
Quick Read: Select Your Seat And Book Your Ticket – Pakistan Railways Launches Mobile App
Iqbal insisted that the increased government spending would trigger the economic activity throughout the country and specifically the in the infrastructure development, which will create a lot of jobs in the market.
He said it was also important to have larger development portfolio for the next year because it would trigger activity in the construction industry on which a number of other growth-oriented industries were dependent because of its potential to create jobs.
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
