ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Thursday predicted that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government would complete its five-year term. The minister reiterated that the PM would not give anything like a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to anyone, and the wish of the opposition would not be fulfilled at any cost as the PM was not ready to compromise on the accountability process.
The NAB is moving in both directions, and in the coming days few leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) may be nabbed but the situation is going to become serious for leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza Shehbaz Sharif.
Addressing a press conference here, Sheikh said that the opposition was divided in groups and Imran Khan would complete his term, and telephone calls of former PM Nawaz Sharif to other leaders did not make any difference. He said that the PML-N leader, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, had created problems for her father and would cause further problems for the former premier.
Talking about the two-year performance of Pakistan Railways, he said that approval of the ML-1 project was an example of best performance; however, the coronavirus outbreak in the country affected train operation. He added that after the British era, Imran Khan's government was giving a new life to the railways.
Talking about the economy, he said that Pakistan's economy was getting strengthened owing to the prudent policies of the incumbent government. He said issues pertaining to sugar and wheat would also be resolved. Sheikh Rashid further said that PM Imran had made a clear statement about Pakistan's stance on relations with Israel.
Talking about relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he said that affairs and security of Pakistan and KSA were interlinked. Rasheed said that tender for the Pakistan Railways' Mainline-1 (ML-1) project would be issued this month.
The minister gave credit of ML-1 project to PM Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Rasheed added that all the railways crossings would end after completion of the project. He said that at present Pakistan government and the army were on the same page.
He admitted that there were problems in the country, on which the PTI government was working under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, and added that those who were criticising the federal government were the ones facing corruption charges before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Commenting on the opposition's multi-party conference, Sheikh Rasheed said that he had earlier maintained that the All Parties Conference (APC) would be held after Eid and predicted more delay with regards to commencement of Muharramul Haram.
Rasheed in his typical style predicted that he was seeing more Pakistan People's Party leaders getting disqualified in the near future. Replying to a query, the railways minister said Maryam Nawaz's only demand was to allow her to fly to London, and over failure, "she got her vehicle attacked in frustration".
Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that tender for the Pakistan Railways' Mainline-1 (ML-1) project would be issued this month, adding that China would provide 90 percent financing for a $6.8 billion initiative to upgrade the 1,872 kilometers railways project, the country's costliest project to date as part of the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
"When the ML-1 Project is completed, the speed of trains will more than double the current 65-110 kilometers per hour to 165 kilometers per hour," Sheikh Rashid said. "Our cargo trains will also operate at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour."
"We will also eliminate all crossings," he added. "The new fully automatic [computer-based signaling and control] system will be installed, and underpasses and overhead bridges will be constructed."
The minister said the project would provide job opportunities to more than 150,000 people, of whom 90 percent would be Pakistanis, and 10 percent would be Chinese nationals. "After the successful completion of ML-1, we will also focus on ML-2 and ML-3," he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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