LAHORE, Dec 26: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has warned that the organisation may face an acute shortage of skilled manpower during the next two to three years.

“Owing to rising POL prices, a number of countries are now switching over from road to rail transport.

‘‘Saudi Arabia has recently awarded a $3.02 billion contract to a Bin Laden company for laying track from Jeddah to Makkah, Madina, Taif and Al-Khoober. Libya is also working on a similar project. These countries will absorb a large number of skilled manpower that the PR has at present, resulting in a crisis-like situation,” the minister said at a ceremony at the Royal Palm Country Club on Tuesday.

Mr Rashid said railway authorities had been directed to take measures to increase the number of technical and skilled persons who could avail the opportunity. Directives had also been issued to the authorities to upgrade the Bolton College to university level.

The PR, he said, was holding talks with companies like the Frontier Works Organisation and the National Logestic Cell to form a consortium so that possibilities to win rail-related contracts in these countries could be explored.

“Ironically, we have already lost some 1,000-kilometer track the British had laid in this part of the subcontinent that is now Pakistan.

‘‘We couldn’t dualise the track from Lodhran to Lahore. Not a single penny was spent on the railways infrastructure for a whole decade of the 1990s,” the minister said.

“But, now the railways is moving in the right direction. A number of development projects initiated by the present government had started paying dividends as during the last six months some two million more travellers preferred trains over other modes of transportation,” the minister maintained.

He said the PR would be privatising all its sleeper factories, adding: “We are ready to sign guarantees to buyers that all their production will be purchased by the railways. It is a golden opportunity for businessmen and they must not miss it,” the minister said.

Railways General Manager (Operations) Asad Saeed and others also spoke at the ceremony.