Fiscal year 2018-19: Rs 125.5 billion allocated for Railways

The government has budgeted Rs 125.5 billion for Pakistan Railways for fiscal year 2018-19 against Rs 131 billion budgeted for current fiscal year, showing a decrease of around five percent. The government has budgeted Rs 125.5 billion for Pakistan Railways for 2018-19 including Rs 39 billion for development schemes and Rs 86.5 billion to defray salaries and other expenses of railway's employees.
A grant of Rs 37 billion has been budgeted for Railways to meet deficit against Rs 40 billion for outgoing financial year which was later revised to Rs 38.5 billion. The government had budgeted Rs 131 billion for outgoing financial year 2017-18. The government had allocated Rs 42 billion for development schemes for the outgoing financial year 2017-18 and released Rs 19.4 billion under the PSDP for different development projects so far.
The Railways had proposed Rs 73 billion against 29 projects including Rs 30.3 billion for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) related projects under the PSDP for 2018-19. The Railways had proposed Rs 70.5 billion against 28 ongoing projects ie 96 percent and Rs 2.5 billion against one new project ie 4 percent, while 10 ongoing projects would be completed by end-June 2018. However, the government has cut the proposed allocation by around Rs 33 billion, which may further delay some of the ongoing projects, officials revealed.
The government has budgeted Rs 86.5 billion for Pakistan Railways for the fiscal year 2018-19 under the head of demands for grants and appropriation to meet the current expenditure, revealed the budget documents. Besides, the government has budgeted Rs 39 billion in the budget for 2018-19 under the head of PSDP to revamp the financially troubled state-owned entity.
The Pakistan Railways is facing shortage of locomotives and for this reason, the government has earmarked Rs 7 billion for the procurement/manufacture of locomotive engines. In addition, rehabilitation of rolling stock will also continue. The Railways has a huge employees-related expenditure amounting to Rs 86.5 billion for the next fiscal year against Rs 90 billion for the outgoing year, which was later revised to Rs 88.5 billion.
Operating cost for 2018-19 is estimated at Rs 19.29 billion against the revised Rs 18.99 billion for the current fiscal year. The Railways will spend Rs 31.114 billion in terms of employees' retirement benefits against Rs 29.2 billion which were later revised to Rs 30.8 billion.
The Pakistan Railways will have to pay Rs 174.27 million for catering to the transfers and postings of its employees. Further, Rs 7.4 billion have been budgeted for repair and maintenance for the next fiscal year against Rs 10.6 billion for the outgoing fiscal year which were later revised to Rs 8.96 billion. Further, Rs 9.5 billion have been budgeted for allowance for next fiscal year against Rs 10.8 billion for outgoing fiscal year.
The government has budgeted Rs 27.75 billion for ongoing schemes of the Railways in the budget for next fiscal year and Rs 12.25 billion for new schemes. For ongoing schemes, Rs 7 billion have been budgeted for procurement/manufacture of 75 new DE locos and Rs 3 billion for procurement of 820 high capacity bogies, freight wagons and 230 passenger coaches, Rs 1.7 billion for rehabilitation of railway assets damaged during riots of December 27-28, 2007 and Rs 507 million for rehabilitation of rolling stock and track. Further the government has earmarked Rs 1 billion for replacement of old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran to Shahdra Section and Rs 639 million for renovation of railway stations.
For new projects, the government has budgeted Rs 5 billion for up-gradation of Pakistan Railway's existing Mainline-1 (ML-1) and establishment of dry port near Havelian (CPEC), Rs 4.54 billion for acquisition of land for Railway Corridor from sea port at Gwadar, Rs 1.3 billion for procurement of track machines commensurating with modern practices and Rs 1 million for feasibility study (PC-11) for construction of new rail link from Havelian to Pak-China Border (CPEC).