China-Pakistan rail link on
horizon By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
QUETTA, Pakistan - Islamabad on Monday
awarded a Rs72 million (US$1.2 million) contract
to an international consortium to carry out a
feasibility study for establishing a rail link
with China to boost trade relations between the
two countries.
The study will cover a
750-kilometer section between Havellian and the
4,730-meter-high Khunjerab crossing over Mansehra
district and the Karakoram Highway. Havellian is
already linked with the rest of the rail network
in Pakistan; the Chinese will lay
track within their territory
up to Khunjerab, linking Pakistan with China's
rail network.
By expanding its stake in
Pakistan's rail sector, China is poised to exploit
the country's advantageous geographical position -
strategically located at the confluence of South,
Central and West Asia.
Beijing's
involvement in several rail projects in Pakistan
is motivated primarily by commercial
considerations, but it also sees distinct
advantages for its improved transportation and
access to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf
states. A reliable network of road and rail links
can only ensure China's access to energy-rich
central Asia, serving it both commercially and
strategically.
In the first week of this
month, Pakistan Railways and China's Dong Fang
Electric Supply Corp signed an agreement for
establishing a rail link between Havellian and
Khunjerab. Ingenieurgemeinschaft Lasser-Feizlmayr
(ILF), a consortium of consultant engineers from
Austria, Germany and Pakistan, is to submit its
report to the Ministry of Railways in nine months.
It is most likely that the distance between
Havellian and Khunjerab will involve the
construction of tunnels. The ILF services
encompass both the construction of new high-speed
railway lines and the modernization of existing
lines for standard-gauge and narrow-gauge railways
in addition to tunnels.
China is actively
involved in the development of Pakistan Railways
and for the past five years it has been increasing
its stake in the country's communication sector.
Pakistan Railways is a state-owned company that
provides an important mode of transportation in
the furthest corners of the country. It has been a
great integrating force and forms the lifeline of
the country by catering to its needs for
large-scale movement of people. The
freight-passenger earnings comprise 50% of the
railway's total revenue. Pakistan Railways carries
65 million passengers annually and operates 228
mail, express and passenger trains daily. It
introduced new mail and express trains between
major terminals from 2003 to 2005.
Pakistan Railways has recently entered
several agreements with Chinese railway companies
for its development. In 2001, Pakistan Railways
signed a $91.89 million contract with China
National Machinery Import and Export Corp for the
manufacture of 175 new high-speed passenger
coaches. The project was funded by Exim Bank China
on a supplier credit basis. Forty completely built
passenger coaches have been received and 105 will
be assembled in Pakistan Railways' carriage
factory by next December.
These coaches
are being used on Pakistan Railways' mail and
express trains from Rawalpindi-Lahore-Karachi,
Lahore-Faisalabad and Rawalpindi-Quetta. The
manufacturing kits for the remaining 30 coaches
have also been received and manufacturing is in
progress. With 12 already assembled, the project
is scheduled to be completed by next month. The
passenger coaches are of the latest design and are
equipped with disc brakes. The technology transfer
for these coaches has been obtained from China's
Chang Chun Car Co.
Under an agreement
signed with China in 2003, Pakistan Railways
purchased 69 locomotives, of which 15 were
delivered as completely built units and are in use
by Pakistan Railways. The remaining 54 are to be
built at Pakistan Railways' locomotive factory.
The Chinese locomotives are 37% cheaper than the
European locomotives.
Some in Pakistan
have been criticizing the faulty locomotives
purchased by Pakistan Railways from Dong Fang
Electric Corp of China. It is surprising that last
year, Pakistan Railways decided to purchase 45
more 2,000-3,000-horsepower locomotives from the
same company. The company is willing to redesign
the already-delivered 30 locomotives of the
original order, such that the underframe is
strengthened and the weight reduced to less than
140 tons. Last year, as a result of an open
bidding, a Chinese company, Beijing Research and
Design Institute, is committed to providing 300
rail cars to Pakistan Railways.
Under
another agreement signed in 2004 with China
National Machinery and Equipment Group, the
Chinese company is to undertake the construction
of Corridor 1 of a light-rail mass-transit system
for Karachi that is intended to serve 4 million
commuters. The project will cost about $568
million and take four and a half years to
complete. The contract has been awarded on a
build-operate-transfer basis and comprises five
corridors.
Pakistan signed a series of
agreements with China during the past three years
to enhance the capability of its railway system.
Under an agreement signed between Pakistan and
China Railway, a Chinese company will provide
1,300 freight cars to Pakistan Railways, of which
420 will be manufactured in China and the
remaining 880 will be produced at the Moghalpura
railway workshops in Lahore.
Under another
project, 450 passenger coaches will be
rehabilitated at an estimated cost of Rs2.14
billion. The project also includes the conversion
of 40 coaches into air-conditioned cars and the
conversion of 10 power vans. Furthermore, there is
a provision of 100 new high-speed bogies, 30 of
which will be imported from China, while 70 will
be manufactured locally on a
transfer-of-technology basis. Under a separate
agreement, 175 new passenger coaches are being
purchased from China.
As part of a $100
million agreement signed between Pakistan and
China in November 2001, China is to export 69
modern locomotive engines to Pakistan to modernize
Pakistan's railway fleet. The first eight engines
have been completed and are ready for shipment to
Karachi. The new engines consume less fuel than
older models and are cheaper to maintain. The main
feature of this deal is that the first 15 engines
will be manufactured in China and the remainder
will be assembled in Pakistan, with spare parts
and technology provided by China. Similarly, for a
Rs7.2 billion railway project in Sindh province
involving laying 78,000 tons of rails, China
delivered 64,000 tons to Pakistan Railways.
As a part of its development plan for its
transport and communications network, Pakistan
Railways has completed a feasibility study of the
Chaman-Kandahar section for laying railway tracks
between Pakistan and Turkmenistan through
Afghanistan. The feasibility study for cost,
engineering and design for the construction of a
rail link from Gwadar to the existing rail network
in Mastung district in Balochistan has also been
finalized. The new link to Gwadar port will open
up underdeveloped areas of Balochistan for
development. The main aim of the venture is to
connect the Central Asian republics with Pakistan
Railways' network through Afghanistan.
China is going to be the beneficiary of
Gwadar's most accessible international trade
routes to the Central Asian republics and
Xinjiang. By extending its East-West Railway from
the Chinese border city of Kashi to Peshawar in
Pakistan's northwest, Beijing can receive cargo to
and from Gwadar along the shortest route, from
Karachi to Peshawar. The rail network could also
be used to supply oil from the Persian Gulf to
Xinjiang. Pakistan's internal rail network can
also provide China with rail access to Iran.
Syed Fazl-e-Haider
(sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com) is a
Quetta-based development analyst in Pakistan. He
is the author of six books, including The
Economic Development of Balochistan, published
in May 2004.
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