Pakistan mulls ADB role in CPEC's flagship Main Line‑1 railway upgrade
ML‑1, a $6.7 billion upgrade of Pakistan's 1,687-kilometer Karachi–Peshawar rail artery, is central to CPEC. The overhaul, involving track doubling, advanced signaling and higher-speed trains, is expected to boost cargo and passenger capacity while easing the transport of trade goods to and from the country's southern ports.
'Experts from the Asian Development Bank inspected the Karachi to Rohri railway line today,' Pakistan Railways said in a statement. 'The Bank's Chief Transport Planner, Sangyoon Kim, conducted the 480-kilometer track inspection alongside the chief engineer (open lines) of Pakistan Railways.'
'ADB's fact-finding specialists will prepare a report on the readiness of the Main Line-1 (ML-1) project, following which a final decision regarding the project's financing will be made,' the statement added.
ML‑1 underpins Pakistan's main rail connectivity, carrying a major bulk of the country's cargo and passenger traffic. The project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee in 2020 but has repeatedly stalled amid funding hitches.
Speaking to Arab News, Babar Ali Raza, spokesperson at the railways ministry, said ADB was currently only preparing the feasibility.
'The main financier is China,' he continued. 'The team conducting the inspection is assessing its own feasibility to determine whether ADB can provide financing or not.'
'This would be ADB's own financing,' he added, 'however much they want to contribute.'
Pakistan and China have described CPEC as a 'game-changer' for growth. The corridor comprises multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiatives covering roads, energy and rail.
The two countries are also striving for regional connectivity, with Pakistan actively pursuing economic diplomacy in the neighborhood and offering its southern ports to landlocked Central Asian countries for global trade.
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