ISLAMABAD: A preparatory meeting on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Joint Working Group (JWG) on Transport Infrastructure observed that due to negligence of the previous regime, the depth of Gwadar port has decreased to 11 meters which should be 18 meters deep for navigation of big ships; it had led to hindering the anchoring of big ships on the port.

The meeting also expressed concerns on the ML-1 Railway Project which should have been started in 2018 but the delay has caused huge financial loss to the national exchequer. It directed Railway authorities to speed up processing of ML-1 project.

Minister of Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal chaired a preparatory meeting on a joint working group on transport infrastructure on Friday which was attended by officials from CPEC Authority, NHA, Gwadar Port Authority and senior officers from the Ministry of Planning and Railways.

On the observation for decreasing 11 meters’ depth of Gwadar port, the Minister directed to take urgent measures to initiate dredging process at Gwadar Port so that Gwadar port will be made a viable transportation of big ships.

Minister for Planning has also expressed his concerns on the ML-1 project and took notice that the project should have been started in 2018 but the delay has caused huge financial loss to the national exchequer.

The minister also directed to evaluate the cost of 250 km/hour track for the future viability of the project.

He asked Railway authorities to speed up the processing of ML-1 project. Minister emphasized that laying down fibre optic cable project should be integrated within ML-1 to economize the project.

The minister said that the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is another important mass-transit project which should be executed on the same model as Orange Line in Lahore.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022