ISLAMABAD   -  The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways was Tuesday informed that the first phase of the Main Line-1(ML-1) project would start by the end of the running year or at the start of next year and would be completed within five years. Secretary, Ministry of Railways briefed the committee about the ML-1 project. He apprised the committee that the phase-I would start by the end of this year. The committee suggested to start and complete the project as early as possible.

The committee held its meeting at the Parliament House here under the chairmanship of Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, MNA. The meeting took an in-depth review of the progress on the committee’s earlier recommendations.

After that, the Divisional Superintendents, Pakistan Railways from Lahore, Mughalpura, Peshawar and Rawalpindi briefed the committee about encroachments and lease of Railways land. They talked about non-cooperation of concerned district administration during anti-encroachment operations. The committee recommended to approach the provincial governments for support during such operations.

The committee showed displeasure on presence of some officers on zoom and directed their in-person presence in the next meetings. The Inspector General of Police, Pakistan Railways also briefed about issues of staff, equipment, salaries and packages of Railways Police. The committee recommended to perform its role to resolve those issues.

The secretary also talked about outstanding dues of Rs2155 million which had to be paid by sponsoring agencies of Railway level crossings. The committee recommended to approach the provincial governments to pay all the dues to Pakistan Railways. Lastly, the committee extended the duration of sub-committee, which was constituted in previous meeting of the standing committee to look into the matters of encroachments/lease of Railways land under the convenership of Ramesh Lal, MNA, for 30 days. The committee also showed displeasure on the absence of Minister concerned in the meeting.

The meeting was attended by Ramesh Lal, Waseem Qadir, Sadiq Ali Memon, Ibrar Ahmad, Zulfiqar Bachani, Syed Waseem Hussain, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shafqat Abbas and Muhammad Jamal Ahsan Khan. The senior officers from Ministry of Railways and Pakistan Railways were also present in the meeting.

The ML-1 project, referred to as the Main Line-1 railway project in Pakistan is a significant component of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The project aims to upgrade and modernise Pakistan Railways infrastructure, enhancing its efficiency and capacity. Under the ML-1 project 1,872km of track from Peshawar to Karachi will be upgraded.