09 October 2004	Saturday	23 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 8: The Pakistan Railways has offered haulage facility to around 1.2 million tons of imported edible oil from the Port Qasim for transit storage and onward delivery to upcountry ghee units.

The Railways offered this facility to terminal operators who had been transporting around 1.2 million tons of edible oil annually through tank lorries.

In a meeting held recently with the Terminals Association of Pakistan (TAP), Pakistan Railways Chairman Malik Asif Hayat also offered to give subsidy against haulage charges, which will be more cost effective and save a lot of time to terminal operators.

At present edible oil importers have to face the monopoly of tank lorries who keep demanding higher haulage charges from time to time that results in an extra burden on end-consumers.

Even today railway is considered to be the cheapest mode of transportation in the world, but lately it had been neglected in Pakistan, allowing big vehicles to become a major source of transportation of goods from the port city of Karachi to upcountry.

As a result of this only the POL import bill shot up many folds in a short period of one decade but road network across the country came under tremendous pressure and a lot many accidents have started to take place on highways and even on by-lanes.

The TAP has also asked the Railways to provide mid-country storage facilities for edible oil with a preference to Faisalabad around which a large number of ghee units are already operating.

The association has also pointed out some other locations for storage facilities, including Multan and Hattar, because they also help cover some other areas. Another facility of gantry filling at the Port Qasim is also under consideration and both the sides are studying the feasibility of the facility and its cost effectiveness.

The Pakistan Railways already has a couple of mid-country storage facilities and Faisalabad is one such city which already has this facility. Once the haulage of edible oil was diverted from tank lorries to the Railways it will not only be cheaper, but would also reach much earlier to its destiny.