ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday that Pakistan Railways would be restructured on a priority basis under the guidance of the cabinet committee on restructuring.
Speaking at a presentation by the ministry of railways in the Prime Minister’s House, he said the PR’s chief executive officer and chief finance officer would be appointed on the recommendations of the committee.
The prime minister directed the ministries of finance and railways to ensure payment of salary and pension to the railway employees and pensioners every month without fail.
Mr Gilani said he would preside over a meeting every month to review the programme for the railways’ turnaround. The finance minister informed the meeting that a financing agreement would be signed with a consortium of banks within a week for funding the rehabilitation of 96 locomotives at a cost of Rs6.1 billion.
He said the provision of diesel for locomotives would be ensured and the credit limit from Pakistan State Oil would be doubled.
The minister said the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry would conduct freight operations on the basis of private-public partnership from Dec 25. He said a non-stop “business express” would start operating between Lahore and Karachi and the PR would earn Rs1.15 billion annually from the service.
He said Shalimar Express would also be operated between Lahore and Karachi under public-private partnership. The meeting was told that all non-economical sections of railways would be closed down.
The prime minister directed the railways ministry to convene a special meeting of the Central Development Working Party within the next two weeks to review the priorities of various projects funded under the Public Sector Development Programme.
Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, FBR Chairman Salman Siddique, Railways Chairman Javed Iqbal and General Manager Saeed Akhtar attended the meeting.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Akhtar said the meeting was told that 17 locomotives would be repaired and refurbished at the workshops in Lahore and Rawalpindi.
He said six locomotives had been added to the running rolling stock over the past few days. Another seven would be inducted after Eid holidays and 10 more by Dec 15. Mr Akhtar said freight trains would start operating by the end of current month after a gap of almost one year.
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