Islamabad, May 20, 2022 (PPI-OT): Minister of Planning Development and Special Initiatives chaired a preparatory meeting on joint working group on Transport Infrastructure which was attended by officials from CPEC Authority, NHA, Gawadar Port Authority and senior officers from Ministry of Planning and Railways.

In the meeting Minister observed that due to negligence of previous regime, the depth of Gawadar port has decreased to 11 meters which should be 18 meters deep for navigation of big ships it had led to hindering the anchoring of big ships on the port.

In this connection, He directed to take urgent measures to initiate dredging process at Gawadar Port so that Gawadar port will be made a viable transportation of big ships. Minister for Planning has also expressed his concerns on the ML-1 project and took notice that the project should have been started in 2018 but the delay has caused huge financial loss on the national exchequer.

Minister also directed to evaluate the cost of 250 km/hour track for the future viability of the project. He asked Railway authorities to speed up processing of ML-1 project. Minister emphasised that laying down Fiber optic cable project should be integrated within ML-1 to economize the project.

Minister said that Karachi Circular railway (KCR) is another important mass transit project which should be executed on same model as Orange Line in Lahore. Minister remarked that the Mansehra- Muzaffarabad and Babusar Tunnel and Zhob – D.I Khan Projects should be taken up on priority for inclusion in upcoming JCC. He directed NHA to do feasibility study of Kabul-Peshawar Motorway.

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