ML-1 tender to be issued on Aug 31

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

The Federal Railways Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, has announced that the tender for ML- 1 railway project, a part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), will be issued on August 31. 

"I am going to meet the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) in next week and request him to invite the Chinese President (Xi Jinping) to be the chief guest on the launching of the all-important CPEC project", the Railways Minister told a press conference in Lahore on August 8. 

“I met the Chinese Ambassador, Yao Jin, on August 7 and congratulated him on the approval of the project by ECNEC and requested him to complete it in three years instead of five years,” the Minister disclosed.

Sheikh Rashid said that Ambassador Yao Jin had assured him that he would convey his observation to the Chinese side. Briefing the salient features of ML-1, the Minister said that there would be no railway crossing on the track in order to avoid accidents.

He said that Pakistan would pay 10 percent of the total amount while China had agreed to pay for the remaining 90 percent.