China congratulates Pakistan on approval of ML-1 under CPEC, vows to engage maximum local labour

ISLAMABAD – China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing on Wednesday conveyed his government’s pleasure on Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approval of approved project for upgradation of Pakistan Railways existing Mainline-1 (ML-1), said CPEC Authority Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa in a tweet.

The Chinese envoy stated this during his visit to office of CPEC Authority, he said.

Separately, Sun Yangjun, DG China Railway Group, visited and felicitated Pakistan on ML-1 approval.

The CPEC Authority chief said that the DG assured to use max local labour and materials.

On August 5, the ECNEC had approved project for upgradation of ML-1 at the cost of over 6.8 billion dollars.

The meeting of the Committee was held in with Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in chair.

The project will be completed in three packages in which existing 2,655 KM track will be upgraded.

The speed of passenger trains will increase from 65/110 KM/h to 165 KM/h and line capacity will increase from 34 to 137/171 trains each way per day.

Ministry of Railways will constitute a project steering committee for effective supervision and implementation of the project.