Railways sign deals for laying optical fiber on two routes
新闻台署名 来源：新华社、《黎明报》、《阿拉伯新闻》、阿纳多卢通讯社与《分钟镜报》。由 GSRRA 编辑部翻译并节选。
Pakistan Railways (PR) on Tuesday signed agreements with a Chinese and a Pakistani company for laying optical fibre at the Right of Way (RoW) on two major routes of the rail network.
The companies have also paid the charges of over Rs333 million in advance to the department, according to a senior official privy to a meeting held here at the PR’s headquarters to sign the agreements.
“The entire payment has been made in advance to the department at the rate of Rs36 per metre for laying optical fibre at the PR’s right of way. The first route where the Chinese company will lay the cable is Kemari to Peshawar Cantt (Main Line-1/ML-1) which consists of 1,681 kilometres in total. The second route where a Pakistani company will work is the Kemari to Lodhran and Multan via loop line and then Gujrat to Lahore Cantt. This consists of a total of 1,049km,” the official told Dawn by telephone.
To a question, the official said the laying of optic-fibre cable, besides the areas near the railways’ RoW, will also benefit the railways in having services related to internet/Wi-Fi in passenger trains.
Chinese, Pakistani firms have paid Rs205m and Rs133m, respectively, to lay cable at PR’s right of way
According to the department, the Chinese company has paid over Rs205m to the PR for laying optical fibre at Kemari-Peshawar route whereas the Pakistani company has also made a payment of Rs133m. The period for both contracts is three years which can be extended with mutual understanding. PR’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amir Ali Baloch signed the agreements with the representatives of the companies on behalf of the department.
“The PR is heading towards increasing its incomes through various avenues. And signing of agreements with international and local companies will help railways increase its income,” Mr Baloch said while speaking on the occasion.
“I think, it will also help us in having various business ventures with other companies too in the near future,” he hoped.
Speaking about the suspension of rail traffic towards Quetta, Balochistan, due to security situation and other issues, the CEO said the resumption of the rail operation would take two weeks.
“As soon as the security situation improves, we will immediately restore the train operation for Balochistan from the rest of the country. He said the ongoing rains are affecting the train operation across the country.
Reference Link:- https://www.dawn.com/news/1856724
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
