Roads and Railways get Rs113 billion

[Edevelop]

ISLAMABAD: A sum of Rs113 billion was allocated in the federal budget for projects in the communication sector on Tuesday, with an ailing Pakistan Railways getting Rs77 billion.

According to the budget document, Rs113 billion will be allocated for 74 development projects including motorways, highways, bridges, tunnels and regional roads.

While addressing parliament Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, said that Rs25 billion have been apportioned for land acquisition for the Karachi-Lahore motorway project this year.

He added that work on the remaining portions of 892km Gwadar-Ratordero Motorway has been expedited and work on 200km long Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab section has also been provided full financial allocation this year.

For northern connectivity, work for the construction of 460km Raikot-Havelian-Islamabad section of the corridor will also be starting this year, including the widening of the Khunjrab-Raikot section of the Karakorum Highway.

In addition, allocations have also been made for a number of crucial bridges and tunnels to open up unconnected areas. These include accelerated completion of Lowari-Tunnel, Lipa Tunnel, a bridge on River Chenab near Sultan Bahoo, Baba Farid Bridge near Pakpattan, Syedwala Bridge on River Ravi near Nankana Sahib, and a bridge on Indus River to connect N5 and N55.

In order to address the problem of urban congestion, allocations have been made in the current budget for the Peshawar Northern-Bypass, Karachi Northern Bypass, Lyari Expressway, Dualization of Sukkur Bypass, and Lahore Eastern Bypass.

Railways

The Rs77 billion allocated for Railways include 45 development projects and salary/pensions of railway employees. A total of 14 new projects will be started in the current financial year.

Rs9 billion have been allocated for procurement of 500 high capacity bogie wagons and 40 power vans. Rs4.6 billion have been allocated for procurement and manufacturing of 75 new locomotives, and Rs6.5 billion for procurement and manufacturing of 50 diesel electronic locomotives. Railway track from Karachi to Khanpur and Khanpur to Lodhran has been provided allocation under this year’s budget as well.

Other areas of allocation include a centralized traffic control and signalling system, revival of the Karachi Circular Railway, Lahore Metro Train, and the Islamabad-Muzzafarabad rail link. A new company with the name of Kashmir Railways is being established to construct and manage this exceptional project in the scenic area of Galyat and Kashmir.

Roads and Railways get Rs113 billion – The Express Tribune

 

[JohnyD]

Roads and Railways are lifeline of any economy....developing countries must focus on these on priority.

 

[WishLivePak]

roads and railways should be made parralel to each other so as to save on land acquiring costs

 

[GreenFalcon]

Roads and Railways are lifeline of any economy....developing countries must focus on these on priority.

As long as the whole budget actually is spent on them because in Pakistan, Corruption comes first for the politicians

 

[JohnyD]

As long as the whole budget actually is spent on them because in Pakistan, Corruption comes first for the politicians

Corruption is there in India as well...but still we need to be optimistic ..hunger for development can divert the energy and focus from border issues..

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Pretty dumb you need Locomotives instead of giving 70% of money to Locomotives you instead waste money on

a) Roads? we already have road
b) Boggies ? we have these these are lieing in sheds unused ...

What we don't have are locomotives ....

Pretty sad how priorities are set for thie organization so out of sync with reality

 

[WishLivePak]

More kickbacks in roads.

More transperancy in locomotives. You gave 75m for locos? Look up how much one costs.
You want that long road? Little way to find out how much it'd cost to make.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Allocated 77,000,000,000 (77 Billion)

• Just 4,000,000,000 (4.6 Billion) of that allocated to Locomotive (5 %)

So where is the shortage ? 99% in Locomotives

Where is money going ? only 5% for Locomotive purchase


95% is spent on salaries , uselss dead projects , and railway track , if you have no engines what good is new railway track?


Does it matter if government connect some city to some city ? YOU HAVE NO LOCOMOTIVES ... what is point of railway track if you have no engines

 

[Asian.Century]

Whenever munchi chaprasi Ishaq Dar choor name is in a article, immediately the sense is that it will be incompetence, technical corruption, money laundering and failures coming ahead.

OK when will this ever complete ? what happened to the roads and railways in the previous allocated budgets ??