ISLAMABAD, FEB 12 (DNA) : The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the government to complete the ML-1 project in two years and the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) within three months.
The Supreme Court gave the orders during the hearing of a case pertaining to the losses incurred by Pakistan Railways. Minister of Railways Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed and Minister for Planning Asad Umar were present during today’s hearing.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, the railways minister said railways could not be fixed until the completion of ML-I.
“ML-I is the nerve centre of the railways.”
“This is a strong message to those who had said that that CPEC had been buried,” the minister said.
Rasheed further told the media that they had asked the top court for five years about the completion of the project, however, the court gave them two years. “We will tell the Chinese that out court has given us the order. Hundred thousand people will work on the project out of which 95% will be Pakistanis,” he added.
Moreover, he said the apex court had also given the orders to have KCR operationalised within three months.
“We are working with the Sindh government to have the remaining five kilometers cleared. The court has allowed us that we can take help from the Rangers in addition to the police for the clearance of the tracks,” he added.
Last week, the Supreme Court had directed the Sindh government and Railways to revive the KCR and remove all unauthorised buildings which come in the way of KCR and submit its compliance report.
Meanwhile Umar told the media that the ML-1 project would be presented before the next meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of CPEC which will be held in April.
Umar added the process of the project’s approval from Central Development Working Party and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council will be completed in time.
