Shafqat Mehmood says encroachment on Pakistan Railways’ land may jeopardize ML-1 project

• Railways officials brief ministers about the restructuring plan.
• The PTI government is determined to turn Pakistan Railways into a profitable entity, says Shafqat Mehmood.
• Pervaiz Khattak advises Pakistan Railways to resolve the issue of unmanned crossings before start of work on ML-1.

ISLAMABAD: Taking strong notice of the encroachment on the Pakistan Railways’ land from Karachi to Peshawar, Federal Minister Shafqat Mehmood said it may jeopardize the whole ML-1 project.

The Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms, which met on Friday with Shafqat Mehmood in the chair to review the restructuring plan, shown serious concerns over the encroachment of the Railways' land.

Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar, Adviser to PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, Secretary Establishment division Mr Ijaz were also present in the meeting.

Read more: What reforms the PTI government is introducing?

Secretary Pakistan Railways Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani briefed the committee on governance reforms, operational reforms, financial reforms, automation reforms and human resource and capacity building in the Railways department.

The federal minister noted that people have established their settlement, civic facilities like electricity and natural gas connections have been installed, link roads and streets being developed on Railways’ land.

If the issue was not timely resolved, it may jeopardize the whole ML-1 mega project, he added.

The committee suggested the Pakistan Railways to hire the consultants and to set up a separate directorate to deal with the issue of encroachment on a priority basis.

Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak advised the department to resolve the issue of unmanned crossings at various points in the country before the beginning of work on ML-1.

Shafqat Mehmood reiterated that the PTI government was determined to turn Pakistan Railways into a profitable entity.