LAHORE - The issue of amount Rs320 million is yet to be resolved between Pakistan Railways and Business Express management with no one agreed to step down from its position, it has been learnt.
The Four Brothers Group, the conglomerate runs the country’s first privatised fully air-conditioned train between Lahore and Karachi, claimed they are not the defaulter of single penny of the Railways against the public utility’s stand that the former has to pay the sum to the department. It is widely considered among the officers of the railways favouring public-partnership that the settlement of the liabilities between the two is the need of the hour.
“With the state of art facilities and timely service for the passengers, we are giving Rs2.27 million daily (Rs850 million per year) to the Railways and it is the responsibility of the authorities to fully cooperate with us,” said Mian Shafqat Ali, the director operations of Pak Business Express, while talking to TheNation on Wednesday.
Quoting the Minister’s recent remark, Mian Shaqat said that Business Express was the only train brought profit for the Railways.
In February 2012, Pakistan Railways signed an agreement to allow the Four Brothers Group, a diversified conglomerate, to run the Business Express, a refurbished train to travel between the two provincial capitals. The agreement was signed to operate the train as a public-private partnership with the private entity agreeing to pay to PR the equivalent of an 88 per cent occupancy rate. The Railways management had termed the agreement historic and provided nine AC coaches, one luggage van, two power vans, one guard bogie and locomotives to the operator. Under the agreement, the operator had to pay Rs3.2 million to PR daily as occupancy charges. Over time, the amount accumulated to Rs320 million because the company could not reach the expected occupancy level and sought a reduction. Later, on direction of the ECC, the occupancy level was fixed 65 per cent. Now the Railways claimed the occupancy level was fixed from January 2013 against the Four Brothers stand that it was started from the day started the train. Shafqat said the Railways authorities had not considered the ECC directions to reconcile the account with Four Brothers Group despite repeated requests to them.
The Railways has 92 operational trains and three of them are privately operated.
Shafqat Ali said: “We asked PR authorities to run the train itself but they are not capable for doing this.” He held that there was not train in India and China providing such kind of facilities to the passengers. He opined that the Railways’ past glory could only be brought back through public-private partnership as it was adopted in all the developed countries. He held the running train was no more the business of the government in modern age.
“The mafia involved in tickets and oil theft and corruption is never in the favour of public-private partnership and their wish is to stop the trains making profit for the Railways but we have a success story and plying train for 16 months,” commented Shafqat.