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ISLAMABAD (July 23 2007): The Railway Ministry has given two weeks deadline to a concerned department - Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (Pracs) - for the completion of a feasibility study to link Gwadar deep sea port with country's main rail network.
The Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services is undertaking the feasibility study of the project that is already well behind its schedule.
Sources in the Railway Ministry told Business Recorder that Pracs has been asked to 'seriously' accomplish the feasibility study of the Gwadar port within no time.
"The project is already behind its schedule... we have asked the Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services to submit the complete feasibility study as soon as they can," a senior official told this correspondent. The government plans to construct a new railway line connecting Gwadar with the main network at Quetta-Kohi-Taftan section.
To this affect, the feasibility study was scheduled to be completed early last year but delayed due to security problems in Balochistan and some other administrative issues.
The government, earlier, had finalised a feasibility report worth Rs 70.63 billion to connect Gwadar port with the main railway network. The Railway Constructions Pakistan Limited (Railcop) - a subsidiary of Pakistan Railways - had prepared the feasibility report of the mega project. Later on, the government decided to conduct a fresh feasibility study of the rail link, as the first one was too inflated.
The task, then, was assigned to Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services which is yet to submit the detailed feasibility report. "It (Pracs) has undertaken the feasibility study of most parts of the proposed project but there are some tracks still left," the official added.
"We are trying to put in place a comprehensive railway network that would in future connect Pakistan with neighbouring countries to promote economic activities in the region," he maintained. The government has so far failed to establish communication links to connect multi-billion dollar Gwadar port with country's main network.