LAHORE: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Railways asked the railways to speed up work on various projects.

The committee sought a five-year record from the railways authorities for sale of the scrap through open auctions or any other mode and its use for the manufacturing of parts. It also gave a go-ahead to the authorities for giving the five acre precious urban property in Karachi to any eligible firm or a joint venture on reasonable commercial rent.

“In a meeting held here in Lahore, the authorities gave us (the committee) a detailed briefing on the department. But I asked them to do something in practical rather than talking or discussing verbally or in writing. I further asked them to accomplish various tasks speedily and show us something tangible,” Muhammad Moeen Wattoo, the chairman of the standing committee, told Dawn while talking about the meeting.

It was the first meeting of the committee at the PR’s headquarters after the NA speaker accorded it permission in this regard, subject to the same expenses related to TA/DA of the participants as incurred in Islamabad. The committee continues holding meetings on a regular basis.

Mr Wattoo said he told the PR authorities that the five-year record of the scarp must have details of the auctions for the scrap sale, including the recent one ending on June 30, firms/individuals to whom the scrap was sold, venues of auctions, price of the scrap, yearly comparison, reasons behind its sale below the market rates (if any), its use and total revenue.

“We asked the authorities about the total expense on the maintenance (of the locomotives, tracks, installations etc). They told us about Rs4/5bn expense per year. When asked about such huge expenses, they started giving examples of other countries’ railways and their expenses. So we also sought a report from them.”

The chairman standing committee said the issue related to accidents was also discussed. According to him, the authorities briefed the committee, claiming that the issue would permanently be resolved after completion of the ML-1 project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

“They told us that all manned/unmanned railway level crossings would be phased out after the ML-1’s completion and there won’t be any accidents,” he explained.

Mr Watoo said the committee allowed the PR to go ahead for lease/rent of the urban property in Karachi to increase the railways’ income. The committee asked the PR to give waiver of three to six months’ rent to railways shops tenants due to Covid-19 across the country.

“We have also sought details of security for the ML-1 after we learnt that this chapter was missing in the information provided by the PR,” the chairman said.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2020