Pakistan has sought a loan of $2.5 billion for the first phase of construction of the much-awaited Mainline (ML-1) of Pakistan Railways through a consortium of international lenders. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expected to assume the role of leading international lender along with other multilateral creditors, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), World Bank and others.
"For the first tranche, the estimated funding requirement will be standing at $2.5 billion, which will be raised through a consortium of international lenders. The ADB will assume the major role with possible lending of over $1 billion," a top official of the Shehbaz Sharif-led government told. The upgradation of ML-1 had so far proved a non-starter as it was conceived almost two decades ago under the National Trade Corridor (NTC) under the Musharraf-Shaukat Aziz regime, whereby the ADB was the frontrunner for arranging financing for it.
Later, China made it part of its flagship project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the request of Islamabad, but from 2014 to 2026, its financing arrangement could not be finalised. After wasting 20 years, now again the ADB is all set to assume the leading role for the construction of the much-delayed ML-1 project. Separately, the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) announced that Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Senator Ahad Cheema held a meeting with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) delegation to review progress on the Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project, with particular focus on timely finalisation of the project design and subsequent preparatory requirements.
The ADB informed the meeting that its technical team and project consultants were actively working on the project and that every effort was being made to finalise the ML-1 project design in October. The ADB side further stated that once the project design is finalised, it would make every effort, in close coordination with the government, to move forward with procurement and other subsequent stages promptly. Senator Ahad Cheema appreciated the progress being made by the ADB and its technical teams and stressed the importance of maintaining close coordination among all stakeholders to facilitate timely completion of the ongoing work.