Pakistan Railways Earns Rs 28.263 Bln Despite Flood Situation In Country: Senate Told

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Feb, 2023 ) :Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan on Tuesday said Pakistan Railways had earned revenue of Rs 28.263 billion from July 1 to December 31, 2022, from its operation despite the flood situation in the country.

Responding to a question pertaining to Pakistan Railways, raised by Jamaat-e-Islami's Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, he told the Senate that the expenditure in the same period was Rs 52.990 billion as out of the total expenditure, 35 percent was related to the pension and 33 percent to salaries.

The minister said the Pakistan Railways received a subsidy of Rs 21.750 billion as a grant-in-aid from the Federal government therefore; the net deficit for the period in question was Rs. 2.977 billion.

On a supplementary question, Balochistan Awami Party's Senator Danesh Kumar pointed out that the Pakistan Railways had distorted the facts and figures in the following reply adding that the total loss, incurred to the department was 24.727 billion.

He was of the view that the grant-in-aid provided to the Pakistan Railways during the same period under discussion should be counted as a loss and it was provided by the government from the national exchequer to meet the expenses of the department concerned.

He also proposed to mend the railway tracks across the country otherwise it would be quite difficult to run the train at the speed of 160 kilometers per hour.

Shahadat Awan said the first half of the current financial year 2022-23 brought more bad news for Pakistan Railways as the unprecedented floods due to climate change played havoc with the already dilapidated infrastructure.

He said it not only resulted in revenue loss as train operations remained suspended for more than 35 days, but it also put a further burden on the Pakistan Railways in terms of restoration of railway traffic from its own meager resources. This had adversely affected the entire financial system of the Pakistan Railways and in turn affected its employees and pensioners due to delayed salaries and pensions, he maintained.

The minister said the Pakistan Railways was trying its level best to turn itself into a profitable organization despite financial constraints. It had developed a two-pronged action plan including concentration on core activities and emphasis on revenue generation through non-core activities, he added.

He said for concentration on core activities, it had prepared a comprehensive business plan in January 2023 to increase its revenue and reduce expenditure through improved governance.

The plan was being implemented in letter and spirit and recent initiatives towards digitization in form of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Railway Automated Booking and travel Assistance (RABTA) also aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing the revenue expenditure gap, he added.

Shahdat Awan said the Pakistan Railways had restarted its premium train service Green Line on January 27 of this year and it consisted of new Chinese coaches imported recently.

He said it was equipped with infotainment services like LEDs, wi-fi and public address systems adding that high-quality meals were also being provided on a complimentary basis to the passengers.

He said the Pakistan Railways intended to upgrade facilities on all its trains as it was importing 230 passenger coaches from China. Out of these, 46 coaches had arrived from China while the rest of the coaches would be assembled soon in Pakistan through Transfer of Technology, he added.

He said the following coaches had the latest facilities and were designed to run at the speed of 160 km.

He further informed that the Pakistan Railways had also imported 70 new high-capacity wagons to enhance the freight capacity which had reached Pakistan adding that the rest of 750 wagons would be assembled in Pakistani factories under Transfer of Technology agreement with China.

For emphasis on revenue generation through non-core activities, the minister said Pakistan Railways recently presented a business plan in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and successfully pleaded to allow utilizing its land for generation of economic activities and thereby ensuring revenue for itself.

He said a land business plan had been developed so that the revenue/expenditure gap could be minimized by leasing/ licensing of railway land.

He expressed the hope that it would also help in decreasing reliance on public funds and annual budget could be minimized through land leasing/ licensing of its lands.

There were some other avenues that were also being explored to improve the revenue potential of the department, he said adding that these included the business potential through laying of Optical Fiber Cable along the railway tracks and branding of trains and stations.

On another supplementary question, Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf's Senator Dr�Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur asked the minister to apprise the house about the progress on ML-I project.

To this, Shahadat Awan replied that the ML-I project was in doldrums in the tenure of previous government but the incumbent government was working on this project on fast-track basis.

He also asked his respected colleagues to give proposals to adequately deal with these issues on permanent basis.