GENEVA: Chairman China International Corporation Luo Zhaohui met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Geneva the other day.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stressed importance of early start of work on the Railways’ Mainline-1 and Karachi Circular projects.
During the meeting, the PM highlighted the significance of these projects for Pakistan.
It is pertinent to mention here that since the railway line is considered to be the fastest means of travel in the modern world and it delivers more weight in less time than roads, all the projects of Railway lines across Pakistan have great importance with regard to the entire CPEC initiative which is set to connect China through Gwadar.
The most important railway line in this regard is Main Line One which starts from Karachi and leads to Peshawar. 75% of Pakistan’s railway commercial and travel needs are fulfilled through this line. This main line starts from Karachi and leads to Peshawar via Hyderabad, Nawab Shah, Rohri, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Lahore, Gujarat and Rawalpindi. This track covers 1800 km.
The current speed of trains running on this track is 65-95 km per hour. Maintenance and expansion of this track is the need of time. Under the umbrella of this project, level crossing will be converted into flyovers or underpasses so that the speed can be increased by getting rid of the obstacles.
According to an estimate rail speed will be doubled (160 km per hour) from the current speed which is 65-95 km per hour. In addition, the Walton Training Academy will be upgraded at Lahore, and the establishment of a dry port at Havelian is also a part of the project.
The project was initially estimated at eight billion dollars, from which five and half billion US dollars from China and 2.5 billion US dollars was to be given by the Asian Development Bank. Due to various reasons, this project could not be started in the previous era and China was reluctant due to lack of a slightly better plan for debt repayment.
In his meeting with Chairman China International Corporation Luo Zhaohui, PM referred to the government’s 10,000 megawatts solarization projects, saying that his government was taking all possible steps for reducing dependence on imported fuel.
He thanked the people and government of China for helping the flood-affected people of Pakistan.
The Chairman China International Corporation assured his country’s all kind of help for the flood victims.
