Report by Engineering Post
A good beginning at last has been made for rehabilitation of Pakistan Railways Main Line (ML-1) from Karachi to Peshawar which has so far been hanging in balance for many years together.
Since ML-1 is going to be rehabilitated in phases owing to various factors, survey on Karachi-Rohri section has commenced in the right earnest after all. National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) have started detailed assessments of land, crops, trees and existing structures along the route. Rehabilitation and up gradation of Peshawar to Karachi Main Line (M-1) under the overall framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been hanging in balance owing to China’s reluctance to provide more than $ 6 billion concessional loan as requested by Pakistan.
Now that China has agreed to multilateral financing for this mega Railways project, Manila, the Philippines, headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) has since sanctioned $ 2 billion loan for what was being described as for the construction of a 480 kilometers long new railway track between Karachi and Rohri.
