Commercial activities: Railways planning to involve private sector

Pakistan Railways (PR) is planning to involve private sector in its commercial activities to put the railways'' department on a track to self-reliance, it is learnt reliably. "PR administration is consulting banks and other commercial institutions for investment so that it can be operated on commercial basis," a senior official of the Railways Ministry told Business Recorder.
The official further said that PR has tremendous potential for private sector participation and for the uplift of railways'' system, the government has decided to involve private sector under the Public-Private-Partnership model. Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) has also received interest from more than 15 parties to operate cargo trains on PR''s infrastructure under the ''Track Access Project''.
According to the policy, PR would provide tracks to the private sector on appropriate charges and all other equipment including coaches and staff would be provided by the private sector to run trains. The official said that ''Track Access Project'' would fulfil the potential backlog of rolling stock (locomotives and wagons) for the PR. The project was primarily meant for transport operators, power plants, oil marketing and refinery companies, freight forwarders and cement manufacturers.
The routine operations and maintenance would be undertaken by the private sector, whereby the major overhauling expenditure would be undertaken by PR on cost basis. He further said that public private partnership is being executed in many countries of the world and these countries have achieved remarkable infrastructure development by involving the private sector.