ISLAMABAD: Major international lenders, including the Asian Develop­ment Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB), have expressed interest in the 1,800km Karachi-Peshawar Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project, with its revised estimated cost of $6.8 billion following the withdrawal of Chinese financing.

A team of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), led by Secretary Humair Karim, briefed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on EAD on the ML-1 project. The panel, presided over by Mirza Ikhtiyar Baig, was informed that the “ADB is being considered as the lead financing institution, while co-financing commitments have been made by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the World Bank,” the NA secretariat said.

It added that the European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency had also expressed interest in the project.

The panel was told that ML-1 was not limited to the rehabilitation and upgradation of railway infrastructure; rather, the project also incorporated institutional and operational reforms aimed at improving the overall efficiency, sustainability and service delivery of Pakistan Rail­w­ays. The project design had been re-evaluated to identify gaps or deficiencies and incorporate necessary improvements.

NA panel voices concern over K-IV progress, completion timeline

Following the reassessment, the cumulative estimated cost of the ML-1 project has been revised to approximately $6.68-6.80bn, compared with the earlier estimated cost of around $9bn.

The committee was also informed that ML-1 infrastructure was being designed to accommodate train speeds of up to 160km per hour, whereas the operational speed was presently envisaged at up to 120km per hour. The construction period targeted for completion was about three years.

The committee expressed reservations regarding the proposed operational speed and emphasised that the project should take full advantage of modern railway technologies and international standards. It stressed that the infrastructure and operational parameters should be suitably aligned to facilitate an operational speed of 160km per hour, where technically and economically feasible, rather than limiting the benefits of the upgraded infrastructure.

Karachi projects

The NA committee also recommended a consultative meeting of federal and provincial ministries and departments to fo­­cus on major development and infrastructure projects in Karachi and other areas of Sindh, identify outstanding issues, resolve inter-departmental and financing-related bottlenecks, and evolve coordinated measures to expedite their implementation in the larger public interest.

The panel expressed serious concern over the progress and completion timeline of the K-IV water supply project, underscoring its critical importance for meeting the growing water requirements of Karachi, with the expected completion timeline of April 2029.

During the briefing, the committee highlighted that Karachi currently required more than 1,200 million gallons of water per day (MGD), while demand was expected to increase substantially by 2029-30 due to population growth, urban expansion and increasing domestic and commercial requirements.

It took note of the briefing regarding the desalination plant and was informed that the facility developed earlier had been assessed by Nespak as not being technically suitable. The committee stressed that all technical, financial and implementation aspects of the K-IV project should be thoroughly reviewed and corrective measures taken without further delay.

In this regard, the panel recommended that the K-IV project be taken up comprehensively under the steering committee at the Ministry of Planning and Development, with the participation of all relevant federal and provincial stakeholders, to specifically focus on addressing the immediate and long-term water requirements of Karachi, resolving outstanding implementation issues and ensuring timely completion of the project.The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) informed the committee that the prime minister had directed that stalled and delayed projects involving the UAE and other countries be actively pursued and brought to the stage of implementation through enhanced coordination and facilitation.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2026