ML-1 cost more than doubled due to delay, PM told
The cost of the ambitious Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project has escalated more than 100 per cent due to delay in its execution, making it difficult for the government to find resources for the venture. Now, the cost of the project, which was conceived under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2016 with an estimated cost of $6 million and financial assurance from Beijing, has gone up to $13 million. This was informed in a meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Pakistan Railways. A source privy to the meeting told Dawn that the government had no financial assistance from anywhere in sight to execute the project and therefore, the premier had directed the authorities concerned to at least start the first phase of the project from Karachi to Sukkur through the government’s own resources. The meeting was told that China that had promised to fund the ML-1 — the project aimed at upgrade of railway track from Karachi to Peshawar — had yet to give any confirmation in this regard. The participants were further informed that the PTI government has made a dent to the project and changed the original plan ML-1 from the Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.