Pakistan asks China to speed up work on KCR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has asked China to expedite work on $2bn Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and $10 billion Mainline-1 (ML-1) — the 1,872km railway track as agreed between the leadership of the two nations in November, ARY News reported.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Planning and Development, Pakistan “requested strong support of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) and other relevant Chinese government institutions to advance implementation of important projects like ML-1, KCR and key energy projects in line with the leadership consensus.”

During Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing last year, the Chinese political leadership agreed to fast-track processing for ML-1 by immediately triggering their respective teams.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who recently visited China, sought strong support from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other relevant institutions to advance the implementation of the Main Line-1 (ML-I), Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and key energy projects.

During a meeting with the Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Li Chunlin, he asked for early completion of the projects.

KCR project

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) last year in November approved Rs292.4 billion funds for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project with a foreign share of Rs263 billion.

The project envisages the construction of 44-kilometre-long and dedicated track of modern urban Railway in Karachi starting from Drigh road, passing through areas including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B area, Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, SITE, and Liyari, according to the state news agency.