Islamabad: President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has advised the government to release funds within seven days for payment of salaries and pension of the employees of Pakistan Railways who have been agitating against non-payment of salaries to them.
He was chairing a meeting on Pakistan Railways at the President House on Monday. He advised the government to arrange a loan of Rs 6 billion for locomotive repairs and purchase of new locomotives. The loan will be used exclusively for the purpose and will not be diverted for any other purpose.
Farhatullah Babar, the Spokesperson to the President, said that the meeting had been convened specially to examine proposals for salvaging PR with the help of private sector from the abyss into which it had fallen. Private sector entrepreneurs were also invited to the meeting to discuss public-private partnership model for revamping railways, he said.
The president gave the directive when the PR Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour pointed out that because of non-availability of locomotives, the freight trains had been suspended and the revenue from cargo transportation had come down from Rs. 9 billion a year to almost zero at present.
He said that cargo service was the most critical element of PR to generate finances not only to support itself but also to make great profits.
Babar said that another decision taken during the meeting pertains to over Rs. 40 billion outstanding overdraft obtained from the State Bank by PR for which it has been paying an amount of Rs. 350 million per month.
President Zardari advised that this matter be taken up in the Council of Common Interests as Railways services were utilized by all the provinces and issue was inter-provincial in nature, he said.
It was also decided that a meeting of private and public sector representatives be held at the earliest to firm up proposals of the private sector participation in revamping and restructuring of PR so as to turn it around into a real profitable venture. The proposals will be finalized within a month, it was decided.
The president said that PR was an area where there were great opportunities for public private partnership. He said that locomotive rehabilitation, outsourcing of maintenance, commercialization of passenger services and leasing of the locomotives are some of the areas in which private sector can join hands with the public sector in a mutually beneficial partnership.
The president also said that Pakistan Railways needs to re-orient itself to introduce corporate culture in its organization while simultaneously undertaking comprehensive administrative, financial and human resource reforms. He said that merely injecting more finances by the government alone was no permanent solution.
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