SC gives four weeks to overhaul railways

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the government four more weeks to overhaul loss-making Pakistan Railways in order to turn it into a profit-making national entity.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed issued these directions while hearing a suo motu case pertaining to financial losses the Railways department has been inflicting on the national kitty.
The court gave the four-week extension for the restructuring of Railways on the request of the Planning Commission. The court also issued directives to the Sindh government and the Railways Ministry to submit a report regarding Karachi’s circular railway project.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed reservations regarding the timeline for the completion of the much-touted ML-1 project after he was informed that the multibillion dollar project, being built under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), will be completed within three years.
“Three years is a lot. China lays down railway lines in months. If funds are available, so much time should not be spent completing the project,” Justice Gulzar remarked after the secretary Railways told him the project will take three years to complete. He also said that laying down an 1,800 kilometre railway track was not a problem for China. – TLTP