Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that no political pressure will be tolerated and decisions will not be taken in haste.

Saad Rafique stated this while addressing a meeting between the Pakistan Railways administration and a delegation of the Sindh government on Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), at the Railways Headquarters on Saturday.

He said, “We are ready to lay down foundation stone of the KCR by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, but seriousness and sincerity should be shown from both sides.”

The minister said that the KCR was a historical and important project which should have been completed 30 years ago.

He said he had enjoyed the journey of tram, adding that when he saw a flood of problems in Karachi, he felt pain.

“We do not work under political pressure, we work on recommendations of professionals, we have revived a destroyed railways,” he said.

“We are ready to cooperate on the KCR project but do not want to cause any loss to the nation,” he added.

The minister suggested that upgradation of Karachi-Peshawar mainline under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should be part of feasibility of the KCR and urged consultants to create unanimity on the design with the help of Chinese experts.

He directed Pakistan Railways to cooperate on KCR for making it a profitable department.

Saad Rafique said that he personally visited former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and discussed the KCR issue and had written several letters to the Sindh government but no response had been received.

“It is not my job to remove encroachments from the route of the KCR,” he added.

The minister said that he talked to the Sindh chief minister and he liked him personally even though he was member of the Pakistan People’s Party. He said nothing could be gained through a blame-game.

“We are ready to cooperate on the KCR, but it was troublesome that no minister or secretary-level officer from Sindh was present at the meeting, whereas the top level administration of the Railways including the federal minister and chief executive officer (CEO) were present at the meeting, which expressed seriousness and sincerity of the Pakistan Railways,” said Saad Rafique.

“Railways is a federal institution which does not enjoy holiday of Saturday and we are ready to leave even the holiday of Sunday for the Sindh delegation,” he said and added, “leave the politics aside and let us complete our professional matters.”

Saad Rafique said that Karachi could only be freed from containers and trailers, when freight transportation would pass through Railways via Mainline-1 after its upgradation.

Published in Daily Times, November 19^th 2017.