Interview | Ahsan Iqbal
This interview was published in Weekly Nidaiemillat dated May 28, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
100 MW solar project | A report published in Nidai Millat
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015
China Pakistan Economic Corridor | Province Wise List of Projects
Brilliant description of Pak-China corridor, the projects under the Corridor .. The 3 routes explained! #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/laB4xJVTmI
— Dr Faisal Ranjha (@fasiranjha) May 18, 2015
Railway decay seems reversing
Railway decay seems reversing
NASEER AHMAD
KARACHI: “If you find a train arriving late, set your watch right,” remarked a smart young porter hurrying down the platform overloaded with several pieces of a passenger’s luggage. “Trains don’t arrive late these days!”
I recently set off from Rawalpindi by Tezgam for Karachi. Exactly at 8.30am it whistled and after a few seconds a second whistle blew and the train began to chug. A relative texted me the train’s travel timetable. All along I checked it with the train’s arrival at the various stations, and everywhere it was ahead of schedule. I got suspicious of the genuineness of the timetable. At Multan I asked a vendor how long the train would stop over there. “It will be here for half an hour, sir. Don’t worry,” he said and added with a justified sense of elation: “It arrived here ahead of time by 15 minutes.”
When the train pulled in at Karachi’s Landhi station, it was around an hour earlier.
Also read: China offers to invest $3.8bn in railways
Trains arrival and departure has always been a serious issue. Throughout the several decades a train arriving on time was an anomaly. If a train arrived within a few hours of its due time, people were content with it. The perennial delay was blamed on the driver’s greed for overtime which he purportedly earned at the cost of the passengers’ precious time. That could be true or may not be so, but train delays had been a common phenomenon in the past. But following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, the destruction of numerous train bogies and locomotives made the railways go haywire. It never recovered from that unfortunate episode till the last government lasted. Former railway minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour himself was so pessimistic about the railways’ future that he declared that the system was doomed and he could not help revive it.
Critics started alleging that since the minister had his own transport business, he was deliberately trying to ruin the railways.
Anyway, trains were late, sometimes by days not just hours. In one such unfortunate episode a train reached from Karachi to Rawalpindi in almost a week instead of the 26-hour journey. People waiting at railway stations were often told that the train was on its way from the other end, it would arrive here after so many hours delay, then it would be rolled to the washing yard before it arrived on the platform to pick passengers. The causes mentioned for the inordinate delays were various, from fuel shortages to engine breakdowns and non-availability of spare locomotives. This forced many regular passengers to opt for other modes of travel, particularly buses, which have since flourished, offering fantastic facilities and luxuries –– free cold drinks and snacks presented by women attendants, working air conditioning, films etc. But that trend appears to be reversing now with trains getting back on the track.
The prime minister’s inauguration of a new train, called Greenline train, on Friday may be proof of it. Railway officials claim that the train is not only centrally air-conditioned, it offers “WiFi connection throughout the route, three-time quality meal, tea, mineral water, newspaper and standard bedding” to the passengers during the travel between Islamabad and Karachi.
Timing is not the only area where the trains have shown some improvement. Water supply and sanitation have also markedly become better than before. The trains are swept at least once during the journey.
During the last few months the steadily rising fares seems to have been reversed. For instance, earlier an AC sleeper ticket between Karachi and Rawalpindi cost Rs6,300; now it is for Rs4,700. Similarly, at the station, coolies roam about offering their services to whoever wants them. Their role has changed considerably from that of an agent of corrupt officials who sold tickets in black market through these men in red shirts and white shalwars. Now they only help passengers with their luggage and comfortably lodge them in their already reserved seats. Black-marketing of tickets is uncommon now. Even the porters are supposed to charge official rates for carrying luggage pieces, though most passengers are unaware of or do not care much about it and just bargain with them.
The trains are comfortable with mostly having bogies imported from China, punctual and in some cases luxury too. Yes, what is called AC sleeper has various compartments for four, three and even two passengers.
Most people credit the present government for the turnaround. “Minister Saad Rafiq really deserves commendation for this improvement,” said Iftikhar Hussain, an employee of the Sui gas company, who says he cannot afford to travel by air and cannot sit for long hours in a bus either.
“Credit for this goes to the PTI. If it were not for Imran Khan’s sit-ins, this government wouldn’t have done anything for the public during its first four years,” said Mohammad Tufail, a PTI supporter.
Whether the credit goes to Minister Saad Rafique, the PTI’s dharnas or the changed internal and external circumstances, China’s assistance, passengers don’t care. They want a dependable, comfortable and affordable mode of travel and they seem to be getting it. With Greenline train on the tracks, I’m looking forward to enjoying a trip to the capital and back with the promised cool VIP treatment on it.
The government’s enthusiasm shows that the privitisation process set in motion with Business Train and Shalimar Express is not in favour of the people. Privatisation is just adding to their woes with higher fares. And they have no economy class, only which most Pakistanis can afford.
Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2015
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Saturday, May 16, 2015
FACTS about Pak China Economic Corridor (PCEC)
CHINA-PAK ECONOMIC CORRIDOR
Overview:
CPEC is the name of a portfolio of projects that has four part utilisation of Gwadar Port, energy portfolio in which Chinese companies would initiate more than 16,000 MW projects in Pakistan, infrastructure development connecting roads, railways and airports with the corridor establishment of industrial parks across the corridor.- CPEC was kick-started in July 2013 when PM Nawaz Sharif visited China to sign the MoU between the two countries
- CPEC has ushered in era of geo-economics
- CPEC is not a single road but multiple networks of sea, air, roads linking Gwadar to China and the region
- CPEC is mega-developmental project that will link Kashghar in Western China with the deep sea Port in Gwadar, Pakistan through a mesh of communication networks
- CPEC communication networks will include a world-class seaport, commercial sea lines, an airport, highways, railways, fibre optic cables as well as oil and gas pipelines.
- Under CPEC, joint cooperation committee has been formed with Ministry of P,D & R and NDRC China.
- Pak-China Joint working groups have been meeting since past year to shortlist and approve projects.
- Media reports that only discussed us a terrorism haven are now talking about Pakistan as a safe haven for 46 bil $ Chinese investment The investment in various projects of CPEC has generated positive signals across globe for our economy
Transport/Infrastructure:
- Gwadar will be linked to Kashgar via multiple routes.
- Three principle alignments to link Gwadar-Khunjrab passing through eastern, central and western parts of the country.
- Currently Gwadar is linked to upcountry only through Karachi, work well underway on western route
- First the western route will be made operational linking Gawadar to Sorab, Qilla Saifullah, Quetta and DI Khan
- 195 km Gwadar to Hoshab section to be completed by 2015 by FWO
- Work is underway on N-85 Hoshab to Surab missing link, to be completed by Dec 2016
- About 65 percent work on Gwadar-Hoshab and 30 percent work on Sorab to Hoshab has been completed.
- FWO workers have completed 100-200 km of road from Gwadar to Sorab, 15 workers were killed by insurgents.
- Zhob to DI Khan road will be upgraded with assistance from ADB.
- 110 km Khuzdar to Bessima road in Baluchistan to be completed in short term
- Eastbay Expressway from Gwadar to Karachi included in CPEC infrastructure projects.
- Multan-Sukkur stretch is being completed as part of PM’s longstanding vision to link Karachi to Peshawar via motorways.
- Up-gradation of 440 km KKH Phase II from Raikot to Islamabad to be upgraded with 3500B USD.
- 1,736 km of railway tracks to be constructed/upgraded linking Gwadar with Kashgar.
- In short term existing railway network M1 to be upgraded under CPEC
Not a single inch of original route plan has been changed.Controversy about route change is not based on facts, serving the agenda of anti-state elements Detailed map of CPEC routes has been shared in newspaper ads
Gawadar:
- Gwadar is the centerpiece of Pak-China cooperation.
- Gwadar will be transformed into a world-class port by 2017.
- Gwadar projects include International Airport, Technical Vocational Center, Fresh water treatment plant, Hospital, Breakwaters
Energy:
- $34 billion investment in energy sector under CPEC.
- 10,400 MWs capacity will be added to the national grid through early harvest energy generation projects to be completed by 2017/18.
- Energy projects include Coal, Hydel, Wind and Solar Plants spread across all provinces.
- Hydro power projects in Suki Kinari KP worth 870 MWs costing 1,802 Billion dollars.
- Hydro power projects in planned for AJK: Karot 720 MW and Kohala 1,100 MW worth 3,187 Bil dollars each.
- Coal Power Plants in South Punjab, Interior Sindh, Baluchistan by 2017/18.
- Coal plants in Interior Sindh including Thar, Jamshoro, Port Qasim.
- Power projects in Balochistan include Gaddani, Gwadar.
- Punjab energy projects in Sahiwal, RahimYarKhan.
- Solar Park in Baluchistan will be largest in the world producing 1000 MW, a triumph for renewable energy.
- Thar coal reserves untapped for past 67 years, to be transformed into energy capital of the world.
Role of Provinces:
- National Harmony is crucial to reap benefits of CPEC projects.
- Gwadar, Quetta, Peshawar, Khunjrab, Lahore, Sukkur, Karachi all major nodes of CPEC.
- Less developed areas like Gilgit-Baltistan, Thar and Gwadar regions will be taken into the folds of active development
Today history has offered us a great chance in shape of CPEC, Pakistan has missed economic opportunities in the past
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