Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that the Railway Ministry has prioritized the upgrading of Pakistan’s main railway lines.
The minister held a meeting with the National Railway Administration (NRA), China delegation at his office on Monday. NRA Deputy Administrator An Lusheng was leading the Chinese delegation. Both sides agreed that this government knows the importance of CPEC and knows that Pakistan Railways (PR) is the backbone of this project.
It was decided that technical teams from both sides would do a detailed exchange on issues regarding the railway relationship for two days. And later on, would think of solutions for this problem. The final report would be signed on 25th December.
The NRA delegation said that Main Line ML-1(Karachi – Peshawar mainline) is a central infrastructure of Pakistan. On the other hand, Sheikh Rashid said that the ML-1 upgrading should be completed swiftly, as this government was interested in upgrading ML-2 (Kotri-Attock mainline).
He further added that China is a significant neighboring country for Pakistan so NRA and PR both are interested in mutual cooperation. He asserted that up gradation of ML-1 is lifeline of CPEC. There will be no further modifications in the Framework Agreement between NRA and PR.
The minister also mentioned that ML-3 (Rohri-Chaman mainline) was also important for CPEC along with ML-1 and ML-2. Hence, China should also give importance to ML-2 and ML-3. He said, “Most importantly, NRA should give reasonable construction estimates to PR. NRA should also give a lesser amount of interest rate.”