LAHORE: The $1.2 billion PC-1 for phase 1 of Main Line-1 (ML-1) will likely be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday.

Pakistan Railways (PR) is preparing and finalising its flagship project in three phases as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“We have already submitted PC-1 of the project’s phase-1 to Ecnec. And we are hopeful the council will approve it in its meeting scheduled for Tuesday,” Pakistan Railways Chief Executive Officer Amir Ali Baloch told Dawn on Monday.

According to him, previously, there was one PC-1 for three phases of the project. But later, the government asked the railways to divide it into three stages, considering the phase-wise financing from China under CPEC.

“The work on making of PC-1 separately for PC-2 and PC-3 is underway these days. However, PC-1 for phase-4 would be made and taken up at a later stage,” he said.

While describing the media reports about shelving the ML-1 project as false and baseless, Mr Baloch said the project exists and China is ready to finance it under CPEC in a phased manner.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2024