ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that Pakistan Railways keeps enough fuel stocks for 17 days and the shortage could not affected it.
While talking to media outside the Supreme Court, the minister claimed that when he took office, the department had a fuel storage capacity of only one day, which was first expanded to 14 days and now stands at 17.
The minister also said that Pakistan Railways had parked its oil wagons in Karachi, which had a capacity to transport 5,000 tons of furnace oil for power generation plants on daily basis from Karachi to other cities of the country.
Earlier, Saad Rafique attended proceedings conducted by a two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. The bench had taken up a joint petition, filed in Jan 2011 by former state minister for Railways Ishaq Khakwani and Dr Mubashar Hassan.
The matter concerned the lease of 141 acres of Railways land to Messers Maxcorp Husnain Pvt Ltd in a non-transparent manner and in violation of settled principles, to develop the Rs50 billion private Royal Palm Golf and Country Club in Lahore.