ISLAMABAD Pakistan Railways has entered into an agreement with China for purchase of the spare parts for 69 Chinese-origin diesel engine locomotives worth Rs 1282 million whereas the total allocation for purchase of spare parts for some 520 locomotives for fiscal 2009-10 is only Rs 1070 million. Sources in the department informed that the Pakistan Railways was already facing financial constraints and the spare parts already imported in the past were still languishing at the Karachi Port due to non-availability of funds required for payment of the taxes. According to the agreement signed with China, the total cost of spare parts to be purchased is US $ 12,982,079.08, while US $ 814951.80 has been allocated for supervision and training head and $ 1379703 has been allocated under the head of contingencies. The sources informed that the Pakistan Railways had allocated a total of Rs 1070 million for the purchase of spare parts for some 520 locomotives and the current agreement for the purchase of spare parts for only 69 DE locomotives cost the department Rs 1282 million alone. The sources said that Pakistan Railways had paid some 15 percent of the total cost of spares as down payment while for the rest of the 85 percent the LC would be opened at the time for shipment of the spares. But the ground reality was that the shipment of spares should have been started in the last March but due to some unknown reasons, it had not been started yet resulting in grounding of around 35 out of total 69 locomotives for which such an exorbitant deal was struck with the Chinese company. The sources further informed that it was yet a mystery that who and from where the department would secure funds for purchase of remaining 451 locomotives of American, European and Japanese-origin and that are quite old requiring frequent supply of spares and maintenance. The sources further said that the agreement with Chinese company was made in haste and on much higher rates and above all the financial position of the department and its other needs and requirements were not considered while inking the agreement. The sources further said that the spares already shipped under other agreements had reached Karachi for quite sometime but due to non-availability of funds, the same could not be cleared and the department would have to pay extra money in shape of taxes and demurrage.