Islamabad: The Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms has observed that the whole Main Line-1 (ML-1) mega project of Pakistan Railways under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) may be jeopardized, if the issue of encroached land is not timely resolved.

Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture Shafqat Mahmood presided over the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms.

The committee reviewed progress of Pakistan Railways restructuring plan. The Secretary Pakistan Railways, Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani, briefed the committee on governance reforms, operational reforms, financial reforms, automation reforms and human resource and capacity building in Pakistan Railways.

The Chairman of the Committee, Mahmood, has shown his serious concern over the encroachment of Pakistan Railways land from Karachi to Peshawar. He has noted that the people have established their settlement, facilities like electricity and gas has been installed, link roads and streets being developed on Railways land.

If the issue is not timely resolved, it may jeopardise the whole ML-1 mega project of Pakistan Railways, he added.

The committee has suggested the Pakistan Railways to hire consultants and to set up a separate Directorate of Pakistan Railways to deal with the issue of encroachment on a priority basis.

Out of 164,000 acres land, almost 8,000 acres land of Pakistan Railways is encroached.

Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak has advised Pakistan Railways to resolve the issue of unmanned crossings at various points in the country before the beginning of work on ML-1.

Sources said that around 90,326 acres Railways land is in Punjab, 39,428 acres in Sindh, 28,228 acres in Balochistan, and 9,708 acres in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

However, land worth billions of rupees is still under encroachment.

Railways land has four types of encroachment: commercial, residential, agriculture; and also under unauthorised occupation by other government departments.

The Geographic Information System (GIS) survey had also been conducted under a project regarding computerisation of railways land records, in which all the encroachments and leases had been recorded in the Pakistan Railways Land Management Information System (PRLMS) software.

The chairperson of the committee has also remarked, by setting preference to motorways, the massive transportation Railways was neglected and ruined by the previous regimes.

He also has reiterated that the government is determined to turn Pakistan Railways into a profit-making entity.

Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar, Advisor to PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, and Secretary Establishment Division Ijaz were also present in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021