Pakistan and China have agreed in principle to constitute a consortium for seeking a soft-term loan from some international company for laying a railway track between the two countries, an official said. Talking to APP, he said a six-member committee comprising equal number of experts from both China and Pakistan has already been constituted in this regard.
He said China has already prepared a feasibility report of laying a railway track in the difficult terrain of Karakoram linking both the states through Khunjarab Pass. He said that the Chinese feasibility report covered the railway track up to Havelian, a town near Islamabad.
He further said both sides have agreed to form a consortium and seek support of some international institution for funding the multi-billion dollar project. The official said process to connect Pakistan Railways with Trans-Asian Railway Network has been initiated with the active support of Chinese government which will, besides linking the time tested friendly countries through rail networks, also ensure standardising Pakistani gauge to international standards. This will facilitate trade to the Central Asian Republics, Russia and China and beyond. The plan is to hook up the two countries with road, rail, fibre optic links, he added.
Trade between the people of the Indus and people of Yangtse has been going on for thousands of years. Commerce sector, between the Indus Valley Civilisation and Ughuristan, Eastern Turkistan or Xinxiang, has been an integral of Pakistani and Kashmiri economy. This is the original silk route and both China and Pakistan are determined to update it with modern fibre, rail, road and business links, and fibre-optic line, oil & gas pipeline, and rail track linking Karakorum Highway to Gwadar.
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