LAHORE: Pakistan Railways management is committed to complete the projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) phase-I before the dead lines, top engineer related to the project said.
“We are upgrading the existing track in first phase and lay new track in second phase of CPEC,” the engineer told The Nation seeking anonymity. The CPEC is a 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, North western China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
China is investing around $46 billion in Pakistan for up-grading of the country’s infrastructure. Though a major chunk of the investment is fixed for energy generation projects, the cash-strapped Railways also succeeded in receiving billions of rupees investment for its up-gradation.
Officials believe that the Railways would enter into new phase and become a profit making department after the completion of CPEC. They said that Railways would come out of deficit after two or three years. “New railway tracks from Gwadar-Quetta-Jacobabad via Besima Tehsil in Balochistan is part of the project,” they added.
The official said that total 560 kilometres track from Bostan-Kotla Jam on the main line-II via Zhob and Dera Ismail Khan and another 682 kilometres track from Havelian to Khunjerab will be laid. The work on the up-gradation of 1,872 kilometres track from Karachi to Peshawar via Kotri, Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi (including Taxila- Havelian) – along with dualisation of the track from Shahdara to Peshawar is on progress, he said.
