Railways bailout package: Bilour seeks release of approved Rs 11.5 billion

Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour on Wednesday sought release of the approved Rs 11.5 billion bailout package in one go to get Railways recovered from the financial crisis, saying that it requires 400 locomotives immediately to transform the Railways into profit earning entity.
Responding to a call attention notice in the National Assembly, the minister said that Pakistan Railways could be transformed into a profit earning entity if it gets 400 locomotives, adding that various measures are being taken to improve its performance.
He said that bailout package of Rs 11 billion was placed before the Cabinet and it was said that the amount would be arranged from commercial loans, but the ministry wanted it to be given by the State Bank of Pakistan for its low mark-up rate, which is yet to be arranged.
Similarly, he said that Railways was promised Rs 5 billion in January 2010, but the amount has not been given hitherto, adding that owing to its budget reduction to Rs 7.3 billion from Rs 13.6 billion after reduction in the development allocations, its hardships increased multiplied.
To a question, he said the only solution to make the Railways a profitable entity is to provide 400 locomotives on immediate basis to meet 100 percent deficit, adding that the ministry has 5,000 wagons in ready conditions. The minister said 374 locomotives were out of order and out of total 520 locomotives only 146 are on track. Similarly, he said 70 percent carriages were out of services, adding that the whole institution needs a massive restructuring.
While blaming the previous governments for the poor performance of the Railways, he said, "Unfortunately Railways was ignored and nothing was done for its improvement," adding that various Motorways were established in the past, but Railways was not given any attention. To another question, he said Pakistan Railways suspended passenger trains on seven routes last year. He said that an improvement in its resources can be made with increase in freight trains service, adding that at present it was running only four freight trains daily.
About the property disputes between Punjab and Sindh provinces, Bilour said efforts were under way to convince the two provinces to share Railways lands by the ratio of 50:50 each. He rejected a suggestion to sell the precious lands owned by Railways for meeting its deficit. To another query, he said that Railways privatisation was not possible because of the fact that it is running in losses and investors would only prefer to buy a profit-making entity.
To another question, the minister said that work on dualization of Lodhran-Sahiwal rail track has been completed while dualization of Raiwind-Sahiwal Section is under way. He said completion of the project would help reduce travel time between Lahore and Karachi significantly.
Earlier, while speaking separately on the call attention notice Shamshad Sattar Bachani, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur and others expressed concern over the dilapidated condition of Pakistan Railways and lack of efficiency to transform it into a profit-earning entity.
Meanwhile, to another call attention notice, Minister for Communications, Arbab Alamgir Khan assured the House that the ministry was committed to completing the on-going projects. He said that currently 104 projects were under way, but work on some of these was slow because of funds shortage and financial constraints.
He said the ministry was allocated Rs 37 billion in the budget, however, it was reduced to Rs 18.5 billion after reduction in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) due to floods as well as financial constraints. He said that so far the ministry has received Rs 12.3 billion. To a question regarding the outstanding amounts of the contractors against the National Highway Authority (NHA), the minister said that the ministry was making payment to them.