June 12, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 11: The government suffered a loss to the tune of Rs57.87 million, including the cost of repair, due to five gas pipeline explosions in the last six months.

This was stated by Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Chaudhry Noraiz Shakoor in a written reply to a question in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

He said five incidents of gas pipeline explosions had taken place since December 2002 due to sabotage activities.

He, however, made it clear that the loss caused due to the incidents had not been included in the bills of the consumers.

The loss, he said, was claimed by the companies through insurance.

Replying to another question, the minister said five national and 17 international exploration and production companies were operating in the country.

He said the total requirement of petroleum products in the country during the current year was estimated at around 17.5 million tons, which would be met through import of 9.5 million barrels of crude oil.

Railways Minister Ghous Bux Mahar told the assembly that due to shortage of locomotives and coaches there were no immediate plans to run additional trains. He said five new trains had been introduced during the Musharraf government — the Karakoram Express, Jafar Express, Faisal Express, Sukkur Express and Budhal Fakir Express.

Mr Mahar said 69 diesel-electric locomotives were being procured from China and 48 were being rehabilitated.

He said that under a 10-year plan, 29 electric and 125 diesel-electric locomotives were planned to be inducted.

He said work on laying of 246km track at a cost of Rs11.192 billion on the Khanewal-Raiwind section was in progress and it would be completed by June 2006.

He said a project for doubling of the 121km track from Lodhran to Khanewal was also being implemented.

The minister said 40 coaches had been received from China during the current financial year. He said eight locomotives would be received during the last week of June or the first week of July.

He said there was no financial impact on the balance sheet of the railways for the last four years due to the agreement with China.

He said the coaches were being utilized for the Karakoram Express and the Jaffar Express and those trains were generating additional revenue amounting to approximately Rs14 million per month.

He said the maintenance cost of the new coaches had not been accurately assessed, but was estimated to be less than that for the older bogies.

Replying to a question, Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal said seven senior Pakistan International Airlines executives had been named as accused after facing inquiries by the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency for financial or administrative irregularities. They were facing trials, however, all of them had been granted bails by the courts, he said.

Mr Iqbal said 20 foreign and three Pakistani passenger airlines, besides two cargo airlines, were operating in the country.

He said the number of aircraft with the PIA was 44, of which 42 were operational.

The number of pilots with the PIA was 545, of whom nine were working on contract, he said.

Replying to another question, he said the proposal of setting up of a district armed services board at Narowal was likely to be finalized in the next financial year.