KARACHI, June 23: The federal government plans to undertake feasibility study for the Thar Rail Line project. The project includes improving the existing railway tracks and laying new ones for better transportation facilities.

An official of the Sindh mines and mineral development department said that the government had set aside Rs10 million in the budget 2003-04 for conducting the study.

The project would cover the area from Mirpurkhas to Islamkot in the Thar desert as the trains were already operating between Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas, he added.

The federal government had also earmarked Rs49.5 million in the new budget for systematic evaluation and appraisal of coal resources of four specific tracts in Thar coal field, he said. — PPI