Federal Minister informed that in this connection a six-member committee comprising equal number of experts from both China and Pakistan was already constituted to move forward in this regard. China has already prepared a feasibility report of laying a railway track in the difficult terrain of Karakoram linking both the states through Khunjarab Pass.. China Railways have been extended right up to the Bharati border making Delhi very nervious

ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has said that Pakistan and China have agreed in principle to form a consortium for seeking a soft-term loan from some international company for laying a railway track between the two states.

In an exclusive chat with TheNation on Saturday, the Federal Minister informed that in this connection a six-member committee comprising equal number of experts from both China and Pakistan was already constituted to move forward in this regard.

Pakistan Railways linked to Trans Railway Network (TARN).Fibre-optic line, oil & gas pipeline rail track linking Karakorum Highway to Gwadar. the Federal Minister informed that in this connection a six-member committee comprising equal number of experts from both China and Pakistan was already constituted to move forward in this regard. China has already prepared a feasibility report of laying a railway track in the difficult terrain of Karakoram linking both the states through Khunjarab Pass.

He further said that during his meeting with his Chinese counterpart in a recent visit to China, [...] that China has already prepared a feasibility report of laying a railway track in the difficult terrain of Karakoram linking both the states through Khunjarab Pass.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said that the Chinese feasibility report covered the railway track up to Havelian, a town at the fringes of Islamabad.

He said that both the sides were agreed to form a consortium and seek support of some international institution for funding of this multi-billion dollars project.

To a question he said that …, “it is the project of future and will go a long way in supplementing enormously to the economies of both the brotherly neighbouring states.”

To another question, Bilour said that it was the policy of Pakistan Railways that in future it would lay all the new tracks as per the international specification. He explained that at present the existing railway tracks in the country were of broad gauge whereas internationally the narrow gauge tracks are in vogue.

He said that initially they would be planning to establish a rail link with China and at later stage they could connect Torkhum with Jalalabad from where they could go into Central Asian states up to Russia.

To a question he said that India was also expressing interest in getting Rail link with Iran and Turkey from Pakistan and hoped that this would help boost the country’s economy.

Pakistan Railways

To a question about laying of the Circular Railway track in Karachi Ghulam Ahmad Bilour informed that a 43-mile track would be laid with the soft-term loan from Japan on the interest rate of only 0.02 per cent. He further informed that in the project Federal Government would be putting in 60 per cent of amount while Sindh Government and City District Government Karachi would be sharing the burden of 30 and 10 per cent respectively.