ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid on Thursday said Main Line-I (ML-I) project would provide employment opportunities to over 150,000 people as 90 percent labour and technical staff would be hired from inside the county.
While addressing a press conference, he said the ML-1 was the biggest project of the incumbent government and completion of project was the mission of his life.
It is also an honor for Prime Minister Imran Khan that this project was launched during his tenure, he added.
While explaining benefits of the project, the railways minister said currently there were about 1,000 crossings on Lahore-Karachi route but with the ML-1 project signal system would be automated and travel time would be reduced.
He added that the Railways was also increasing speed of trains from 70/80kph to 180kph.
Sheikh Rashid further said that the work on ML-1 and Nullah Leh would start this year. He added that the government would give tender to China, which could further subcontract local companies.
The project starts form Karachi and culminating at Peshawar would not only decrease unemployment in the country but would also boost national economy, he said, while adding that the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the up-gradation of existing ML-1, 1,780 kilometer, and after completion, the train would run on the upgraded track at the speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
Sheikh Rashid said the railway track was built in 1861 and due to its dilapidated condition it increased incidents but now the track was going to upgrade that would help mitigate railways mishaps.
"Credit for ML-I goes to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and after its completion the number of passenger trains will also be increased from 34 to 140," he added.
He congratulated Prime Minister Imran Khan, Adviser to PM on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Asim Saleem Bajwa for showing special interest in the project and its timely commencement. Under the project, that cost $6.80 billion, existing one line would also be turned into a double-track route to provide safe journey to the railways passengers.
He said the track was being upgraded on modern lines that would allow trains to run at the speed of approximately 160 kilometer per hour.
The track may also have the capacity to increase more speed in the future.
During the upgrade of the ML-I, the existing track available in good condition would be utilised for the rehabilitation of other branch lines across the country. The entire project would be carried out by the Pakistan Railways engineers in collaboration with Chinese engineers, he maintained.
The ML-I is just a beginning, Pakistan Railways will also upgrade ML-II, ML-III and ML-IV to improve the infrastructure in the country, the minister added. People having land adjacent to track were being allowed to construct eight floor building to encourage private entrepreneurship. He said fencing would be ensured to secure the track and all the level-crossings would be converted into flyover and underpasses besides upgrading signaling system to avoid accidents.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.