ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top economic body on Wednesday approved its costliest project to date as part of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement, giving the go-ahead for a $6.8 billion project to upgrade its railway lines, the government said.
CPEC has seen Beijing pledge over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the railway project, known as Mainline-1 (ML-1), on a cost-sharing basis between Islamabad and Beijing, Pakistan’s finance division said in a statement.
Under the project, Pakistan’s existing 2,655 km railway tracks will be upgraded to allow trains to move up to 165 km per hour — twice as fast as they currently do — while the line capacity will increase from 34 to over 150 trains each way per day.
“The execution of the project shall be in three packages and in order to avoid commitment charges, the loan amount for each package will be separately contracted.”
CPEC has come in for criticism from some western countries, particularly the United States, which says that the projects under it are not sufficiently transparent and will saddle Pakistan with the burden of expensive Chinese loans.
Both China and Pakistan have continuously downplayed such concerns over the years. The move ahead on ML-1, which has been on hold for years, will dispel notions that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is seeking to roll back some of the mega projects that he himself had questioned when in opposition.
At $6.8 billion, the ML-1 project alone is almost equal to Pakistan’s entire development budget for fiscal year 2020-21, which stands at Rs1.32 trillion ($7.9 billion).
Pakistan approves most expensive China-aided project to date
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Pakistan approves most expensive China-aided project to date
- At $6.8 billion, the ML-1 project alone is almost equal to Pakistan’s entire development budget for fiscal year 2020-21
- Pakistan’s 2,655 km railway tracks will be upgraded to allow trains to move up to 165 km per hour, while line capacity will increase from 34 to over 150 trains each way per day
Pakistan to launch last 2025 anti-polio nationwide drive targeting 45 million children next week
- Over 400,000 frontline health workers will participate in Dec. 15-21 nationwide polio vaccination campaign, say authorities
- Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world, the other being Afghanistan, where wild poliovirus remains endemic
KARACHI: Pakistan will kick off the last nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign of 2025 targeting 45 million children next week, the National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC) said on Monday, urging parents to coordinate with health workers during the drive.
The campaign takes place days after Pakistan launched a nationwide vaccination drive from Nov. 17-29 against measles, rubella and polio. Pakistan said it had targeted 22.9 million children across 89 high-risk districts in the country with oral polio vaccination drops during the drive.
Over 400,000 health workers will perform their duties during the upcoming Dec. 15-21 nationwide polio vaccination campaign, the NEOC said in a statement.
“Parents are urged to cooperate with polio workers and ensure their children are vaccinated,” the NEOC said. “Complete the routine immunization schedule for all children up to 15 months of age on time.”
Health authorities aim to vaccinate 23 million children in Punjab, 10.6 million in Sindh, over 7.2 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 2.6 million in Balochistan, more than 460,000 in Islamabad, over 228,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and more than 760,000 children in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the seven-day campaign, it added.
Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.
Islamabad’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted and killed in attacks.
