Infrastructure and Transport News

[Neo]

ADB funding to be sought for Rs 22 billion Faisalabad Motorway

ISLAMABAD (March 01 2007): Pakistan has decided to approach the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for funding the Rs 22 billion Faisalabad-Khanewal Motorway (M-4) project, as the Malaysian government has categorically refused to undertake the project on BOT basis.

Sources in the Communications Ministry told Business Recorder that Malaysian government's refusal has taken the concerned authorities back. Pakistan and Malaysia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for construction of the 184 km long Faisalabad-Khanewal Motorway at an estimated cost of Rs 17 billion.

The Malaysian government had once again renewed its pledge to make M-4 project, but it was not ready to construct the highway on BOT basis. After talks, Pakistan government was optimistic that the Malaysian side had reviewed its decision and was willing to undertake the project.

Sources said that the Malaysian side even at that time was reluctant as it believed that the project was not viable. Interestingly, there has been an increase of Rs 5 billion in the estimated cost of the project, that now stands at Rs 22 billion.

When contacted, Communications Minister Shamim Siddiqui confirmed that Pakistan government had approached the ADB to seek financial help for the project.

He said they were going to meet ADB officials in July to arrange Rs 22 billion funding for the motorway. He said that Malaysian authorities were not willing to BOT option as they believed it was not financially viable for them. He dispelled the impression that it was some kind of 'backtrack', saying that they had showed inability due to financial constraints.

The Minister said that still there would be a Malaysian contractor who would construct the 184-km road. The plan is to construct Faisalabad-Khanewal Motorway in four years time. It would have four lanes, with the provision of upgradation to six lanes.

The designed speed limit on the M-4 will be around 120 miles/hour. There would be 25 bridges, two major bridges, 85 subways, 436 culverts, 42 flyovers and five service areas. The plan has seven interchanges--at Faisalabad, Painsara, Gojra, Toba Tek Singh, Shorkot, Abdul Hakeem and Khanewal.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=533683&currPageNo=2&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Rs 7 billion allocated for Nullah Leh Expressway: Rashid

RAWALPINDI (March 01 2007): Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said the government has allocated Rs 7 billion for the Expressway being constructed on both sides of Nullah Leh.

"The expressway and super flyover from Mareer Chowk to Faizabad costing Rs 6 billion would help resolve traffic problems in the city", the minister said while addressing women councillors of the Rawal Town here on Wednesday. Rawal Town Nazim Sh Rashid Shafique was also present on the occasion.

He said the formal inauguration of the expressway project will be held on March 23 and work on this project would be started at five points to complete the project at earliest.

The minister said that 22-km-long expressway would end the persisting traffic problems. He said the work on super flyover from Mareer Chowk to Faizabad would also be taken into hand soon to decrease traffic pressure on Murree Road.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the work is underway to run the mass transit train in Rawalpindi besides a shuttle service between twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=533724&currPageNo=3&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Thursday, March 01, 2007

‘Rs 77b being spent on roads in Balochistan’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday that the federal government was spending approximately around Rs 77 billion on the construction of 4,300 kilometres of roads in Balochistan, and of the total sum, Rs 6 billion would be spent during the current financial year.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\01\story_1-3-2007_pg7_34

 

[Neo]

CNG-based public transport

MUCH can be achieved with the right political will and the commitment to see a project through from the planning to the implementation stage. The Central Development Working Party, an inter-provincial ministerial forum, approved 40 development schemes on Tuesday, among them a much-needed programme to convert public transport to CNG in five years. The project covers all major cities and includes government support to offset infrastructure and bank loan costs incurred by companies investing in large CNG-based fleets. Land for parking and other requirements will also be leased out by the government to reduce start-up costs. These are healthy incentives as CNG buses are more expensive than their diesel counterparts and the higher costs involved can be a deterrent even for major transporters. If successful, the scheme can have a positive impact on air pollution — the example of New Delhi is there for all to see — and also help reduce the country’s oil import bill.

The key, though, will be implementation. Last year, the Sindh government set a June 2007 deadline beyond which two-stroke rickshaws would not be allowed on the roads anywhere in the province. With the cut-off point just four months away, little progress has been made in terms of the switch over to four-stroke engines and it is too much to expect that rickshaws will simply disappear from July 1. The same is true of Lahore, where two-stroke rickshaws are to be phased out by the end of the year. There is a danger that the CNG scheme too may fizzle out and, as such, periodic review and follow-up are a must. In the meantime, the authorities need to tackle the air pollution problem through tighter fuel standards and emission controls, scrupulous fitness certification regimes, and a crackdown on poor quality smuggled petrol and diesel.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/02/ed.htm#3

 

[Janbaz]

Musharraf for fast PR uplift, trains with 300km/hour speed


ISLAMABAD (updated on: March 03, 2007, 17:50 PST): President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday called for fast development of the Pakistan Railways on modern lines to provide economical travel to the people, swift movement of goods and to create linkages with neighbouring countries.

"We need to be ready for the future and plan for trains that can travel to 300 km an hour and divert road and air travellers to use this efficient mode of travel," he told a gathering here at the Golra Railway Station after inaugurating museum of Pakistan Railways.

The president stressed that the pace of improvement need to be further enhanced. "We have to catch up fast," he said and directed the Railway authority to prepare for the challenges ahead.

He said the current target of increasing speed of trains up to 140 km/hour was not enough. "Today the world is moving on to magnetic levitation trains and monorails for mass transport, we need to go for these," he added.

The president referring to his vision for the Pakistan Railways spoke of plans to link Chamman to Kandahar in Afghanistan and to build an ambitious rail track from Havelian to the Khunjerab Pass to connect with the Chinese mainline.

"Both the governments of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have expressed desire to join this rail link as it will provide them an access to the Gwadar Port," he said.

The president said new rail tracks were also being developed between Gwadar and Quetta, Peshawar and Zhob and Bostan and Zhob, besides the dualisation of the Karachi-Peshawar mainline.

The president also called for moving on to the standard gage and said currently the meter and broad gage were being used that led to import of expensive Rolling Stock and Wagons that need to be converted.

President Musharraf also called for hastening the pace on provision of mass transport system for Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad and said it could be later emulated in other major cities.

Business Recorder.
http://www.brecorder.com/

 

[Janbaz]

Railway track to be laid from Chaman to Kandahar, says Musharraf

CHAMAN: President Pervez Musharraf underlined Saturday the need for modernising the railways in order to providing inexpensive, efficient and comfortable travel facilities the people.

Speaking after inaugurating the Railway Heritage Museum at Golara Sharif Station here Saturday, the President said that the country needs to catch up with the developed world on fast track basis as the railway provides the cheapest mode of travel to the people.
President Musharraf said railway, the primary mean of travel for the common man would be provided required finances to carry out its modernization.

The President said the mass transit system especially in big cities in Karachi, Lahore, Rawlapindi and Islamabad and other cities as well.

He said we must go for the mass transit system in order to remove the choking of the roads.

He said by removing the bends along the rail tracks would further bring down the distance between various destinations. President underscored that the entire railway system needs to be converted from the existing meter gauge and broad gauge into modern standard gauge.

He said by switching from meter gauge and broad gauge to standard gauge would make the rail travel faster and efficient. The President said the imported railway wagons have to be converted from standard to broad gauge which incurs extra cost.
The President said that the developed world has gone one step further ahead and is using magnetic system. In the mass transit system they are using mono rails and Pakistan is no where near these systems.

He said we must move forward through applying modern and improving the speed of the rails from hundred and forty kilometers to three hundred kilometers. He said the trains in the world have even achieved four hundred kilometers and trains in Pakistan run at just hundred and forty kilometers which is unacceptable for a progressive nation.
President said we have no time to lose as we a nation in hurry to catch up fast with the advances the world is making and railway is the area where the focus is needed.
The President said the government would support all endeavours of the Ministry of Railways to upgrade the rail network for the sake of the people of the country so that they switch over to railways from road transport and even the air travel.

listing the futuristic plans of expansion for railways, President Musharraf said that plans are underway to link their country with other regional countries of the region. He said Chaman would be connected with Kandahar via Spin Boldak and futuristically country could be linked with China through Khunjerab Pass which would facilitate travel from all the Central Asian Republics.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have shown the desire to utilize this railway line for access to the sea. He said Gwadar would be connected with Quetta through a new railway line and Peshawar with Zhob via Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. He said plans are afoot to introduce broad gauge from Bostan to Zhob.

Geo TV.
http://www.geo.tv/geonews/details.asp?id=2914&param=1

 

[Neo]

The track has been in the pipeline for over three decades and I'm still not convinced that we'll build it now.

The region is way to instable, transport by road is often attacked and looted by robbers and terrorists.

But it will boost regional trade when the border becomes stable.

 

[Janbaz]

Infrastructure financing to enhance public debt

By Mehtab Haider

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s public debt is set to increase in coming years owing to borrowing requirements for financing the upcoming bigger infrastructure projects in the next decade, said Fiscal Policy Statement 2006-07 issued by Ministry of Finance on Saturday.

“Although public debt is now on a solid downward footing, sustaining the momentum will be a continuing challenge,” the report states. The coming years, the report said, will see an increased borrowing requirement particularly in the foreign currency component to finance the infrastructure development program. The large infrastructure projects envisaged in the next decade will increase the debt burden if sufficient revenues are not generated from within the country.

The report says as a result of slower pace of growth in pubic debt as against GDP growth rate, public debt as a percentage of GDP has continued its declining trend. Public debt as share of GDP fell from 61.5 percent at the end of June 2005 to 56 percent at the end of June 2006, which is similar to the level of debt during the 1970s.

In another report of Debt Policy Statement, the finance ministry states at the end of FY06 total domestic debt stood at Rs2,312 billion which is 30 percent of GDP. The net increase in domestic debt was Rs153 billion from end of FY05 where domestic debt was Rs2158 billion. This represents a growth rate of 7.1 percent, which is slightly higher than the average growth rate since FY00 of 6.6 percent.

Therefore, a supportive yet prudent fiscal policy based on principles of sound macroeconomic fundamental is crucially important to lead the country to a higher growth trajectory.

Fiscal consolidation has undoubtedly contributed to a sharp recovery in economic growth within a stable macroeconomic framework. Every effort will be made to continue to improve the fiscal balance, notwithstanding the pressure generated by the earthquake of October 2005. Revenue performance on the other hand is better than the target and will help ease some pressure on the earthquake-related spending.

Going forward, Pakistan will have to allocate substantially large resources for strengthening the country’s physical and human infrastructure to sustain the growth momentum. The challenge will be to significantly enhance Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio in order to generate the resources required to finance the development of both human and physical infrastructure.

The government, the report said, will therefore, have to make efforts to broaden the tax base i.e. to hitherto untaxed or under taxed sectors. Broadening of tax base will enable the government to reduce marginal tax rates, which will help further stimulate investment and production and will promote voluntary tax compliance.

Broadening of tax base will also ensure the fair distribution of the tax burden among various sectors of the economy. The overall services sector including wholesale and retail trade as well as agriculture sector needs to be fully taxed.

Total revenue for the fiscal year 2006-07 is estimated at Rs1163.0 billion as against Rs1,087.0 billion in the previous year (2005-06) thus projecting a growth of 7.0 percent. Tax revenue, accounting for 76.1 percent of total revenue is targeted at Rs885.7 billion, which is 15.5 percent higher than last year. Tax collection by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is targeted at Rs835 billion and accounts for 94 percent of the total tax revenue. The CBR tax collection is projected to rise by 17.0 percent over last year.

During the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year (2006-07) total revenue amounted to Rs255.7 billion as against Rs236.6 billion in the same period last year, thus registering an increase of 8.1 percent. Tax revenue stood at Rs191.6illion, which is 20.9 percent higher than the corresponding period of the last year. Similarly, non-tax revenue amounted to Rs64.0 billion and declined by 10.7 percent in the same period. CBR tax collections are important component of tax collections and account for lions share in overall tax collection.

The Government is moving ahead on its agenda to improve expenditure management and fiscal transparency. The New Accounting Model (NAM) has been used for 2004-05 federal budget. However, because of capacity constraints at the provincial level the NAM is used in parallel with the existing model except only in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), while implementation in other provinces will take some time.

The overall fiscal deficit is targeted at Rs373 billion or 4.2 percent of the projected GDP. On the basis of the developments on revenue and expenditure front, the overall fiscal deficit during the first quarter (July-September) stood at Rs86.7 billion or 1pc of GDP.

The News.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45358

 

[Janbaz]

Govt to invest Rs400bn on highways, motorways

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Communications Minister Shamim Siddiqui said on Saturday that the Ministry of Communications was going to invest Rs400 billion on new roads, highways and motorways and widening and repair of the existing ones.

Speaking to reporters after inauguration ceremony of worldcup.cricpoint.com at a local hotel, he said these projects involve investment of Rs400 billion. The most important of these projects is the Karakorum Highway, which provides connectivity with China and would be completed at a cost of Rs65-70 billion.

He said the motorway had been completed up to Faisalabad and now work would be started to extend it from Khanewal to Sukkur. By 2014 it would be connected to Karachi, he said. He said work was going on the road from Karachi to Peshawar to make it a four-lane road.

He said the construction of road from Gwadar to Khushab to Sohrab would be undertaken at a cost of Rs22 billion. A road is being built from Khuzdar to Rato Dero at a cost of Rs12 billion. The RCD Highway was being upgraded from Hub to Chaman.

Earlier, the website constructed by the team of Kalpoint.com, a commercial venture of Kalia Group was inaugurated. Speaking to the inauguration ceremony Shamim Siddiqui praised the efforts of Kalia Group in taking Pakistan to the map of IT world by establishing a software house and educating the youngsters of the nation in IT.

Veteran Urdu commentator Muneer Hussain praised the efforts of Hanif S. Kalia for bringing innovative ideas to serve the nation. General Manager Kalpoint.com Umair Ahmed Khan said the website will not only hold latest news but also world cup history, reviews, views, schedules, venues, etc. He said that one of the features of the website is online desktop and full scorecard.

The News.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45363

 

[Janbaz]

'Efforts on to bring prosperity in Balochistan'

ISLAMABAD (March 04 2007): The government is making efforts to convert Balochistan into a developed province, the spokesman of Balochistan government, Raziq Bugti, said on Saturday. Talking to PTV, he said that the government had started several development projects in the province, and majority of Balochistan people are in favour of progress and prosperity of the province.

Most of the projects would be completed by the end of 2008, to be helpful in government's bid to bring the province at par with the rest of the country, he said. He said that Gwadar port project has provided employment opportunities to hundred percent locals. It has increased economic activities there. A few years ago there were only 800 boats. The number has already swelled up to thousands recently, the spokesman added.

Business Recorder.
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=534791&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Super Highway to be converted into sisx-lane Motorway

ISLAMABAD (March 05 2007): The Karachi-Hyderabad Super Highway will be converted into six-lane Motorway (M-9) within two years, sources in National Highway Authority (NHA) told APP on Sunday. They said the road would form part of a wider network connecting the principal and populous cities of the country.

The project will cost Rs 6.3 billion and the scope of work includes expansion of the road from four to six lanes and provision of service areas. They said that the Authority had signed a concession agreement for construction of the 136 km M-9 with Standard Construction in September last year, but there had been some objections over approval of the project.

However, on January 16, 2007, after a comprehensive briefing by the NHA on this project the National Highway Council (NHC) approved the project. M-9 will be the country's first major project to be built on 'build, operate, transfer' (BOT) basis, whereby the contractor would construct the project and operate it for 25 years, before handing it over to the government.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=535310&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

March 08, 2007

Pakistan to build fourth port after Gwadar

ISLAMABAD: The government plans to build another port after it completes the Gwadar deep sea port in Balochistan, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri told reporters on Wednesday.

Ghauri, after a meeting with the British high commissioner to Pakistan, said the site for the new port would be decided soon. It would also be a duty-free port like Gwadar. He said the proposed fourth port would be an important addition to the country’s trade infrastructure after the Karachi port, Port Qasim, and Gwadar. He said that the first cargo vessel would reach the Gwadar port in the third week of March and it would be a “historic moment”. He hoped that Gwadar would become a major platform for the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East.

The minister said Gwadar would be made a “hub port” with the assistance of Singapore. Big ships would bring commercial cargo containers to Gwadar, and than these containers would be transported to Karachi, Port Qasim, Iran and Bangladesh via small vessels. The Gwadar Port Energy Zone would be open to investors from all countries and Pakistan is pursuing the project to become an “energy corridor” in the region, he said in his meeting with the British high commissioner.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\08\story_8-3-2007_pg7_19

 

[Janbaz]

Excellent news about the fourth port though i wish we had a bit of coastline on our east or west instead all sputtered in the south. Well, ill be content with what we have!

 

[Neo]

Our coast line is just fine, all we need to do is improve the infrastructure and develop more dry ports to facilitate export oriented bussiness.

Gwadar should get a rail link with Quetta, Karach Port Qasim, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshwar and Chitral and should also be linked to Qandahar and Zahidan.

Rail track between Gwadar and Karach PQ would automatically link Pasni, Jivani and Ormara via Bela and Hub.
There's an excellent trade corridor. Once this is realised more cities will be developped near the coastline.

 

[Janbaz]

Our coast line is just fine, all we need to do is improve the infrastructure and develop more dry ports to facilitate export oriented bussiness.

Gwadar should get a rail link with Quetta, Karach Port Qasim, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshwar and Chitral and should also be linked to Qandahar and Zahidan.

Rail track between Gwadar and Karach PQ would automatically link Pasni, Jivani and Ormara via Bela and Hub.
There's an excellent trade corridor. Once this is realised more cities will be developped near the coastline.

Q: How come these beach loving westerners don't visit the Pakistani south? Marvelous beaches' and coastline. Taliban and insurgents live far to the north. I wonder.....