Islamabad: A local newspaper reported that the failures and inefficiencies on part of provincial and federal governments have delayed critical CPEC projects.
A railway line upgradation project Main Line (ML-I) worth $8.2b which was supposed to be finished in two segments between 2016 and 2020, is facing delays in its preliminary design which is causing hiccups in estimating the final cost and creating hindrances in financing arrangements.
An official of Planning Commission (PC) was off the view that due to delays in preliminary design of the ML-I project; the cost could go either go up or down.
This was discussed in a CPEC Coordination Review Committee presided by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and also attended by Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong.
The meeting was apprised by Pakistan Railways, that the project’s technical study will be completed by end of this year and Iqbal said the matter of financing the rail line will be taken up with China during his upcoming visit to Beijing.
According to the official, initial design for the first segment was almost complete and a new PC-I would be presented before the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for approval.
ML-I project comes under CPEC and as per an agreement reached, Chinese financial entities will provide 85pc financing for this project and Pakistan will bear 15pc of the cost.
ML-I project foresees the upgradation of the railways current main line from Karachi to Peshawar, having a length of 1,872 km, which includes the 55 km Taxila-Havelian and 91 km Lodhran-Khanewal section.
This project involves the upgradation of existing single and double tracks over 1,598 km and rebuilding the existing 930km double line.
