China on Wednesday hinted at an early launch of the Main Line-I project of Pakistan Railways – the biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history with an estimated cost of around USD 6.8 billion – that has been funded by Beijing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.  The project aims to reconstruct the Peshawar-Karachi railway track, enabling it to carry trains up to a speed of around 120 km per hour.

Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong called on Pakistan Railways Minister Azam Swati and discussed with him the progress made on the ML-I project. The ambassador said the project would take the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to new heights and would showcase the depth of the deep-rooted bond between the two countries.

The project would be completed in three phases and reduce Peshawar-Karachi traveling time significantly.

Once completed, the project would largely help the revival of freight trains, and later aid the transportation of goods from China’s Xinjiang to Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.

According to the sources familiar with details of the meeting, significant progress has been made regarding ML-I as the two leaders discussed at length the issues related to the project.

However, a source told Pakistan Today that while there are still some issues regarding the loan for the project, it is expected that the project will soon be formally launched after the approval of a loan from the Chinese banks.

The minister appreciated the services rendered by Ambassador Rong and agreed to launch the project on ML-1 at the earliest to further strengthen Pakistan-China friendship.

On the occasion, the Chinese ambassador said that ML-I would be the biggest project in the history of Pakistan and it would further strengthen Pakistan-China friendship.

The ML-I project is of utmost importance to Pakistan Railways and the national economy and the Chinese partnership will change the map of railways in Pakistan, he added.

CPEC is a collection of infrastructure projects that are under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013. Originally valued at USD 47 billion, the projects were estimated to be worth USD 62 billion as of 2020. Gwadar Port is a  key component of CPEC.

(SAM)