LAHORE: A Chinese consortium will invest $1.8 billion in the Pakistan Railways (PR) infrastructure to facilitate transportation of fuel to the sites where coal power projects are being installed.

An agreement to the effect was signed between PR Freight Transportation Company (PRFTC), a subsidiary of the Pakistan Railways and Huaneng Shandond Ruyi (Pakistan) Energy Pvt Ltd, and the Chinese consortium working at Sahiwal Coal Power project, at a ceremony at the PR headquarters in Lahore on Monday.

“The agreement is for 30-year partnership and is part of the Pak-China Economic Corridor Project; the PR will earn Rs13.65 billion annually,” Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique told newsmen after the pact was inked by PRFTC Managing Director Zafar Zaman Ranjha and Huaneng Shandond Ruyi Vice General Manager Zeng Ming on behalf of their organisations.

In order to meet the fuel requirement of the 1,320 megawatts Sahiwal Coal Power Project, the first of its kind in Pakistan, the PR had started upgrading its rolling stock and rehabilitating its track and other infrastructure.

Plan envisages fuel supply to coal project sites

“The PR has never carried out such a huge operation of coal transportation. It is a challenge for the PR. We have started preparation for it. The bidding process to procure 55 locomotives, each of 4,000 horsepower, is in final stages. The state-of-the-art locomotives will be procured from reliable and tested manufacturer at reasonable prices. We will also request the successful bidder to supply locomotives within the shortest possible time. We are working on the conveyer belt from Port Qasim to Bin Qasim, lay rail tracks to link Quetta with Peshwar, Chaman with Spin Boldik, Peshawar with Jalalabad and other routes,” said the minister.

The efforts to get the PR back on the rails have started bearing fruit. “The PR is earning approximately Rs31 billion at present. Some 12.5 million more passengers have started using trains and our income from freight sector has touched the Rs8.2 billion figure. However, we are still in deficit,” said Mr Rafique while adding that railways required a one-time lump sum injection of Rs1,000 billion for its total rehabilitation.

To a question, the minister said in spite of hike in the POL products’ prices, there was no proposal under consideration to revise the rail fares. Increase in rail fares had been linked with the provision of facilities to passengers.

Praising the efforts put in by rail workers in particular and officers in general for the revival of the PR, the minister said all the employees would get pay raise in accordance with the increase to be announced for government employees in the upcoming federal budget.

“Rest assured, there will be no privatisation of the railways. There is no need in fact. We are introducing successful models of public-private partnership to increase our income,” he said.

The railways had demanded Rs45 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme for the next fiscal. “Hopefully we will get Rs41 billion and 80 per cent of these funds will be utilised for completing ongoing development projects while with the remaining amount work on some new uplift plans will be initiated,” the minister said.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2015

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