Pakistan approves US$6.8bn railway upgrade, its most expensive project under China’s belt and road plan
- Pakistan’s existing 2,655km railway tracks will be upgraded to allow trains to move up to 165km/h – twice as fast as their current speed
- Beijing has pledged more than US$60 billion for infrastructure projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the railway project, known as Mainline-1 (ML-1), on a cost-sharing basis between Islamabad and Beijing, Pakistan’s finance division said in a statement.
Under the project, Pakistan’s existing 2,655km railway tracks will be upgraded to allow trains to move up to 165km per hour – twice as fast as they currently do – while the line capacity will increase from 34 to over 150 trains each way per day.
“The execution of the project shall be in 3 packages and in order to avoid commitment charges, the loan amount for each package will be separately contracted,” the council said.
CPEC has come in for criticism from some western countries, particularly the United States, which says that the projects under it are not sufficiently transparent and will saddle Pakistan with the burden of expensive Chinese loans.
Both China and Pakistan have continuously downplayed such concerns over the years. The move ahead on ML-1, which has been on hold for years, will dispel notions that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is seeking to roll back some of the mega projects that he himself had questioned when in opposition.