ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information ministry said this week that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has assured that its technical team and consultants are actively working on the long-delayed Main Line 1 (ML-1) railway project and aiming to finalize its design by October, as Islamabad pushes to enhance rail connectivity for greater economic benefit.

The ML-1 is Pakistan’s main railway artery, stretching from the southern port city of Karachi to the northwestern Peshawar and carrying nearly 80 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and 90 percent of its freight. Originally conceived as a flagship project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), its upgrade has been repeatedly delayed amid financing and cost negotiations.

Islamabad is now working with the ADB to advance the 480-km section of the railway from Karachi to the historic Rohri city in Sindh. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week called for an early start to the Karachi-Rohri section during his meeting with a senior ADB official.

Pakistan’s Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema met an ADB delegation on Wednesday to review progress on the ML-1, the information ministry said in its press release.

“ADB informed the meeting that its technical team and project consultants are actively working on the project and that every effort is being made to finalize the ML-1 project design within October,” the ministry said.

The ADB delegation said after the project design is finalized, it would make every effort in coordination with the government to move forward with procurement and other subsequent stages in a timely manner.

Cheema assured the ADB delegation that Pakistan’s government remains prepared to complete all requirements on its part in a timely manner and extend necessary facilitation throughout the process.

The ADB delegation said that requirements related to the project’s processing and approvals, including those concerning consideration by the ADB Board, would be shared with the government in a timely manner.

ADB Vice President for South, Central and West Asia Yingming Yang met Pakistan’s Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi last week. The Pakistani minister said the Karachi-Rohri project was estimated to cost around $2.5 billion and that the government was committed to laying its foundation stone during the current fiscal year.

Pakistan is pushing for the ML-1 to be finished early as it hopes the railway project reshapes the country’s economic and infrastructural landscape. The ML-1 corridor from Karachi to Peshawar connects the two major sea ports, the Karachi Port and Port Qasim, with the rest of the country.

Pakistan has pushed for modernization of the ML-1 section, with the railways saying that most of the bridges located on this route are over 100 years old and have outlived their life. It says that on most railway stations at ML-1, the signaling system is “obsolete” coupled with low-quality maintenance.