5 kms KCR land impossible to vacate sans Sindh govt’s help: Sheikh Rashid

ISLAMABAD, Nov 1 (APP):Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Friday said the five kilo meters land of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) could not be vacated without the help of Sindh government.

Addressing a press conference along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Khusro Bakhtiar and others, he said Pakistan Railways had already vacated around 38 kilometers for KCR project in Karachi out of a total of 43 kilo meters.

The minister said Pakistan Railways was also ready to provide the land to the affected people if Supreme Court allowed the department and the provincial government should promise to construct the homes for the affected people.

Sheikh Rashid said Main Line-I (ML-I) project between Karachi to Peshawar was the backbone of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which would bring revolution not only in Pakistan Railways but in the history of the country.

He said after 14 years in the country’s history, the dream of ML-I was going to become a reality and under the project around 0.1 million jobs opportunities would be created.

The minister said after the completion of the project, the travel time from Lahore to Karachi would be reduced. “The speed of ML-I trains will be 160 km/hr,” he added.

He said the development of ML-I would include fencing on both sides, repair of bridges and laying of new track from Peshawar to Karachi.

The project would remove all the unmanned level crossing on the railway network which would also control trains’ accidents, he added.

After the completion of ML-I, the minister said freight volume of Pakistan Railways would considerably increase and help strengthen the national economy.

He said 70 percent track of Pakistan Railways was passing through population which was very unfortunate and creating so many problems like accidents.

To a question, he said Chinese railway was the modern railway system of the world which left behind the countries like America and after the completion of ML-I with their help would bring revolution in Pakistan Railways.

About the recent accident of Tezgam Express, Sheikh Rashid said Pakistan Railways had announced compensation of Rs1.5 million each for those died. Besides this, the families of the dead passengers would also be given Rs500,000 each on behalf of the prime minister, he added.

To another question, he said the report of the accident would be submitted on Saturday and if the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) could leave Islamabad with his resignation then he was ready to tender his resignation.

He said Nullah Lah and ML-I were my dream and after the completion of these two projects, “I’m ready to retire.”