12 February 2004	Thursday	20 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 11: The railways department is yet to entertain a request of the NWFP government to provide 40 kanals required for the construction of a flyover over the Suri Pul intersection.

City development and municipal department officials said the second phaseof the project could be jeopardized if the railways refused to provide the land. Work on first phase of the intersection project was executed in 2002 at a cost of Rs32 million with two bridges on the railway line and 70 per cent of the work on the utility services.

In the second phase of the project, estimated to cost Rs200 million, a 500-metre-long flyover from the Hospital Road to the Shabistan Cinema will be constructed. Officials said a revised PC-1 of the second phase of the project hadbeen submitted to the planning and development department for approval.

According to the original design, the flyover was proposed from the central jail to the Shabistan Cinema. Later, the consultants changed the design to reduce the cost of the project and preserve the beauty of the provincial assembly and high court buildings.

Sources said the provincial government had approached the railways to provide 40 kanals along the railway line to build the flyover.

They said the railways was demanding a very high price of Rs4 million per kanal, while the provincial government could not pay but negotiations were under way in this regard.

An official said the municipal department had suggested that the land might be acquired on lease. Railways Divisional Superintendent Mukhtar Ahmad Abbasi, when contacted, said the department had demanded the price at the market rate and the executing agency must ensure that the train service was not affected. He said the matter was under consideration and the railways headquarters would give the final approval in this regard.

REVENUE INCREASE: The revenue of the railways, Peshawar division, increased during 2003 by 28 per cent as compared to the earning of the preceding year, APP adds.

The revenue of the division in 2003 was Rs324.654 million against the earning of Rs254.186 million made in 2002, says a press release issued on Wednesday.

In freight sector, the division loaded 7,807 wagons as compared to 5,821 in 2002. At least 41,396 cases of people travelling without tickets were detected and Rs7,133,546 received from defaulters.

It said window earning amounted to Rs163.584 million during the year against the figure of Rs148.255 million in 2002. It said 8.031 acres of the railways were retrieved from encroachers.

Dues of Rs9.29 million were recovered from lessees of railway land and different departments and agencies. It said work to make the cantonment railway station a model was in progress and would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs3.527 million during the current financial year.