105-kilometer railway line will be constructed from Chhor to Islamkot under CPEC

105-kilometer railway line will be constructed from Chhor to Islamkot under CPEC

A meeting held between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Chairman CPEC Authority (CPECA) General (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa in CM House. The meeting was attended by Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, and Secretary Energy Musadiq Khan. Gen Bajwa was assisted by Energy Specialist of CPEC Authority Yasir Arfat and Infrastructure Specialist Muzamil Zia. To transport coal from Thar Coal field to Port Qasim and up-country, a 105-kilometer railway line will be constructed from Chhor to Islamkot other than launching of coal to gas to urea and liquid projects and installation of 1320MW power plant in Thar Coal Block-VI under CPEC-related projects. The three major projects of Sindh under CPEC i.e. Karachi Circular Railway, China Special Economic Zone Dhabeji and Keti Bandar have already been approved. During meeting, Gen Bajwa said that KCR was on top priority of the CPECA. About Dhabeji Economic Zone, the chief minister said that he has earmarked 1530 acres of land for China Special Economic Zone  Dhabeji, a CPEC priority project. Dhabeji has various advantages due to access to Port Qasim enabling import and export of goods saving transportation time and cost. Moreover, Dhabeji zone has access to Jinnah Terminal which is hardly 35 kilometers via National Highway enabling safe travel of foreign workers and management personal. While the third one, Keti Bandar is also an important strategic and alternate port which is also an important part of his government’s strategy towards developing the Energy sector. KPT has become one of the most loaded ports, thus, a plan has been made to construct an expressway right on up to Malir Expressway.