Month: June 2017

Islamabad: The National Assembly on Monday was informed that the double railway track project from Lahore to Peshawar would be completed under early harvest projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Dewaan Aashiq Hussain Bokhari said the completion period of the project was five years (2017 to 2021) subject to singing of an inter-governmental framework agreement. The dualization of track from Shandra to Peshawar ( 455 Km) was included in up-gradation of Main Line-I (ML-I) project under the CPEC, he added. He said important cities that fall on the track being dualized under the project, included Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Lala Musa, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Attock City, Nowshera and Peshawar. The track between Lodhran and Raiwind had now been dualized in two phases, from Lodhran to Khanewal (121Km) and Khanewal to Raiwind (246 Km), he said, adding that the Sahiwal-Raiwind section was opened for traffic on January 09, 2016.

The parliamentary secretary said at present, there were 1,290 laborers working on contract in Pakistan Railways. He said the wages, perks and privileges were being provided to the contract employees as per basic scales of pay under the rules including pay, house rent, medical allowance, conveyance allowance, leave travelling and medical facilities except entitlement for pension and General Provident Fund (GPF).

Karachi: Al-Haj Group in partnership with Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) has decided to assemble different truck variants and luxury buses in Pakistan at an expected investments of Rs4 billion. The company has already purchased 30 acres of land outside Karachi as it aims to start production in the next 12 months. In Phase 1, Al-Haj Hyundai (Pvt) Limited, a separate company, will initially invest Rs1.5 billion through its own resources.

There are now four Chinese truck assemblers in Pakistan. Chinese truck assemblers claim that they have already grabbed up to 40% market share in a short period of 10 years while the rest is in the hands of well-established Japanese players who have historically dominated. The prices of Chinese trucks are in the lowest band. For instance, if a Chinese truck is available in Rs7.8 million it can go up to Rs12.6 million in the Japanese range. Price of a high-end European brand like Volvo goes up to Rs16.5 million, partly because they are not assembled in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The government is learnt to have set aside Rs44 billion, or a quarter of CPEC funding, for the next fiscal year, giving the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor its first serious push, initiating the construction of roads in the country’s underdeveloped areas. At the same time, CPEC’s eastern route, which is at an advanced stage of completion, was also given required financial resources in the Public Sector Development Programme 2017-18. The next fiscal will be the third year of execution of CPEC projects. The allocation and spending patterns of CPEC projects suggest that work on the eastern route will be completed faster than the western route.