Engineering Post Report
Pakistan Railways, not so well off financially to say the least , had leased out over 4603 acres of its land across the country for generating additional resources during the last three and half years as yet another major step forward for transforming the organization into a profitable entity.
According to the information available from the Railways officials, the land so leased out was located in as many as seven divisions of the country namely Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Multan and Sialkot.
Additionally, Pakistan Railways have also chalked out a plan for commercially exploiting 25 mega sites on the network across the country under public-private partnership mode. In the second phase, another 111 new commercial sites across the country have already been identified through public private partnership and express of interest had already been invited in this regard from the interested concerns.
The sources maintained that the Railways have also decided to further accelerate the on-going anti-encroachment operation against the land grabbers in different parts of the country. The operation is ongoing for sometime to retrieve Railways land from individuals, groups and organizations using the so occupied land for residential , commercial, agricultural and other purposes.
Pakistan Railways had launched anti-encroachment operation in Karachi alone on the express orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan during last two years for removal of illegal constructions on the track of the Karachi Circular Railway to it for revival of the KCR functioning.
During last three and half years, Pakistan Railways was headed first by Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad and then by Mohammad Azam Khan Hoti.
Now, Khwaja Sa’ad Rafique is back at the helm of Pakistan Railways affairs for the second time after 2018.
