Since its inception, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been assisting Pakistan to develop its outdated infrastructure through building of lots of new high & ways, express roads and bridges, hospitals, education centers and massive projects of social development in the country.
However, the black magic of bureaucratic genie of the country is still working like an ancient pyramid of Egypt, creating undue delays, unjustified hurdles and ultimately accommodative spirits have reached to diminishing curve unfortunately.
The chronic snail pace orientations of Pakistani bureaucracy has become a snatching box to the easy & smooth sailing of the CPEC projects in the country. In this regard, time and again the Chinese policy makers and CEOs of the Chinese private companies have been complaining against the nonprofessional attitudes and unfriendly conducts of our bureaucratic setup, creating lots of delays in the approval, disbursement, execution, implementation and completion of the CPEC projects in the country and ultimately drying the true spirits of the newly formed Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in the country.
The delays in the pending payments of the Chinese private companies have now reached to inelastic point. According to many reliable diplomatic and corporate sources, the latest prey is the ML-1 mega rail project which has been in the line of fire because of sudden change in the execution road map which only depicts unrealistic wish list. The emerging starting point controversy of this project has now become new point of spat between two sides which is not a good omen for the transformation and modernization of country’s rail transport system.
The first phase of CPEC has already been completed and the second phase is now underway. ML1, a key mega project of CPEC Phase-II is a railway project that will upgrade and modernize Pakistan Railways. The project is financed by China, and the work will be carried out by Chinese companies. ML1 is the largest railway project in Pakistan, and it is a key part of the CPEC. The railway project will start in the Pakistani city of Karachi and end in the city of Peshawar.
According to many reports 75 percent of Pakistan’s railway commercial and travel needs are fulfilled through Karachi-Peshawar rail-line. It starts from Karachi and leads to Peshawar via Hyderabad, Nawab Shah, Rohri, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Lahore, Gujarat and Rawalpindi. This track covers 1800 km. Thus the early initiation and completion of the ML-1 should be one of the key priorities of Pakistan.
Moreover, the current speed of trains running on this track is 65-95 km per hour. Maintenance and expansion of this track is the need of time. The level crossing will be converted into flyovers or underpasses so that the speed can be increased by getting rid of the obstacles.
According to an estimate rail speed will be doubled (160 km per hour) from the current speed which is 65-95 km per hour. In addition, the Walton Training Academy will be upgraded at Lahore, and the establishment of a dry port at Havelian is also a part of the project which would have a giant step towards capacity building mechanism in the country.
Furthermore geographically, the ML-I project is very important to achieve connectivity between Gwadar and Kashgar through a train line that will provide the shortest and safest way to transport oil between China and the Middle East creating lots of good things for the economies of Pakistan and China in the days to come.
Definitely, the up-gradation of the existing railway line will provide faster travel facilities to the common people of Pakistan and also get commercial numerous benefits i.e. shipment raw materials to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and faster delivery of finished goods to the different regions of the country and to Gwadar port after its completion and operationalization.
It is predicted that even the supply of coal will be done for fuel to the power plants through this rail, which will also generate good revenue for the railways.
Hopefully, the ML-1 project will sustain the economic, commercial and tourism activities of Pakistan which will be big boost to its macro-economy after its completion.
According to many reports the ML-I will create more than 28,000 new jobs in the country and will stimulate social development of the local communities too.
The initiation of the ML-1 and the reforms of the railways are the top priorities of the caretaker government which shows its special importance in the development of the communication infrastructure of the country. It is indeed a mega national project which will revolutionise the transport sector in the country.
In summary, it is strongly suggested that the government should immediately remove all bureaucratic hurdles to start the ML-1 in the country so that the new camel (rail) may be started to achieve the desired goals of rail’s transformation and modernization.
It has multiplier socio-economic effects in terms of lesser time consumption, lesser energy and faster delivery making this an ideal mega project of rail system in the country. It would further streamline and stimulate overall macro-economy. It will boost Pakistan’s macro-economy and local communities by increasing trade and investment. It will improve connectivity between different parts of the country, helping to reduce pollution and traffic congestion and providing a much-needed boost to the country’s ailing railway system after its completion.
It has the potential to materialize the dreams of trans-regional connectivity in the days to come. Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan have already agreed to build a mega rail project of US$4.5 billion which may be further extended and connected with ML-I thus the early initiation, implementation and completion of the same will be giant step in right direction in the future providing an alternative means of trans-regional (South Asia to Central Asia) connectivity.
It is strongly suggested that in order to overcome all the bureaucratic snags, all mega projects of the CPEC Phase-II must be operationalized and channelized through the SIFC in the country. The SIFC should be treated and projected as the “New Replica” of existing bureaucratic model in the country.
The policy makers of both sides should take all possible measure to minimize the propagated environmental concerns of the ML-1 through rigorous greening measures comprising of plantation along the track and use of solar stations.
The building of new corridors mainly, China-Pakistan Railway Modernization Corridor (CPRDC), China-Pakistan Digitalization Corridor (CPDC), China-Pakistan Green Corridor (CPGC), China-Pakistan Health Corridor (CPHC), China-Pakistan Artificial Intelligence Corridor (CPAIC), China-Pakistan Agriculture Corridor (CPAC) and last but not the least China-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor (CPKC) should be expedited.
Author is Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, Executive Director of The Center for South & International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad
