China Eximbank to lend Pak $1.7bn for train system

ISLAMABAD: The Export-Import Bank of China will loan Pakistan $1.7 billion to develop a city-wide train system in the eastern city of Lahore, a senior Pakistani government official said on Wednesday.

The 15-year loan will be disbursed in the next five years, and negotiations with Eximbank are under way to finalise other details, Khawaja Ahmed Hassan, chairman of the Lahore Transport Company (LTC), said.

“The bank agreed to lend us the money with a two-year grace period, and our aim is to get it at six per cent interest,” he told Reuters.

The Punjab government recently agreed to award the 27 km (16.7 mile) train line contract project to the Chinese company China North Industries Corp (Norinco). In 2008, a French company had estimated the cost of the project at $2.4 billion.

The Chinese “were very kind and they brought down the cost of the project to $1.7 billion,” Hassan said.

He said the project was likely to begin by the end of 2011.

Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, Pakistan’s most populous and prosperous province, is home to more than five million people.

Officials expect the new transport system, the first of its kind in the country, will substantially decrease road traffic.

“There will be a big change. If we are able to bring here the system which we saw in China, thousands of vehicles (will) eventually go off the road,” Hafiz Nauman, a provincial lawmaker and senior member of the LTC, said.

He said another Chinese company will supply 111 buses to the city in June.

Seen as an “all-weather friend” to Pakistan, China has invested heavily in infrastructure development, particularly in the strategic and mineral-rich southwest, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

China Three Gorges Corp, China’s largest hydropower developer, is ready to invest $15 billion in Pakistan’s troubled energy sector, an investment that could add 10,000 megawatts to Pakistan’s main grid over the next 10 years, a senior company official told Reuters in an interview on April 7.

China is a main supplier of military and defence hardware to Pakistan, and has helped the country build nuclear power plants.

Chinese Company ‘will ply 111 Buses by June 2011: LTC

One hundred and eleven of the 200 buses a Chinese company has agreed to ply in Lahore will be operational by June this year, Lahore Transport Company chairman Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan said on Monday.

He said the agreements with two Chinese companies, Noranko for the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System and Foton for buses, were a milestone in provision of quality public transport in the city.

Hassaan said Noranko would invest $1.7billion in the LRMTS. In the first phase, he said, it would operate between Shahdara and Gajjumatta.

The LTC chairman formed a committee to give recommendations for dealing with the illegally-run transport including QinqQi rickshaws, mini buses and vans. The committee was given 15 days to submit its recommendations.

The committee is headed by LTC vice chairman, Mehr Ishtiaq, and includes LTC member Mohsin Lateef, GM (Enforcement) Kamran Khan, GM (Operations) Asad Rehman Gillani, GM (Finance) Adnan Muddassar and Lahore Chief Traffic Officer Syed Ahmed Mubeen. Hassaan said the LTC was committed to provide all possible assistance to transport companies so that public transport facilities in the city could be improved. He said under a transport action plan, new bus terminals and depots would soon be built in the city.

He also said there would be no compromise on standards. He said new busses would be allowed to operate only if they met the standards and specifications approved by LTC board of directors.

Hassaan said the LTC would provide assistance to overhaul 250 old busses. He said third party evaluation would ascertain the extent of repairs required for these buses

LRMTS Agreement Signed: Finally comes the Big News

LAHORE – An agreement was signed between the Punjab government and China in Beijing on the Lahore Mass Transit Project to be completed at a cost of US$1.7 billion.

After the Taunsa Power Project agreement, it is the second big achievement of the delegation visiting China-led by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. LTC Chairman Khawaja Ahmed Hassan on behalf of the Punjab government whereas Zhang Shiping, vice president of NORINCO, an international company of China, signed the agreement.

Seven-kilometre portion of urban rail spreading over a stretch of 27-km in Lahore from Gajumata to Shahdara on Ferozepur Road would be laid underground. As much as 85 percent capital would be provided by China.

Addressing the agreement signing ceremony, Shahbaz said the project prepared with the cooperation of China would prove to be a beginning of public transport system revolution in Pakistan.

He said the economic cooperation by China with Punjab had transformed into solid agreements out of the MoUs. “Work on this project will be started during this year, and the Punjab government is ready to welcome the Chinese engineers and skilled workers for this purpose,” he added.

Flyover and Underpass on Kalma Chowk: What about LRMTS

LAHORE:

The government has decided to start work on a flyover at Kalma Chowk to reduce congestion at the intersection, The Express Tribune has learnt. The authorities have also decided to build an underpass at the chowk, but don’t have the money to start the project yet.

The flyover will be a kilometre long and start and end 500 metres either side of Kalma Chowk on Ferozepur Road. The proposed underpass will run from Gulberg Main Boulevard to Garden Town Main Boulevard. The latter will also be widened to take advantage of the new underpass.

Kalma Chowk has been widened twice before, but is now regularly choked with traffic. At peak hours wardens usually switch off the traffic signals and direct traffic manually. Still, the queues of vehicles at the chowk often stretch back to the previous signal.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had asked officials a while ago to make a plan to resolve traffic issues at the chowk. At a meeting chaired by Lahore Commissioner Nadeem Hassan Asif a couple of days ago, it was decided to start work on the flyover. Ferozepur Road was previously under the city district government’s control, but was recently handed over to the Lahore Development Authority

Work on the flyover will start at once, said Israr Saeed, director of the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency. He said that work on the underpass is subject to the availability of funds. He said that an initial estimate put the cost of building the flyover and underpass at Rs2 billion.

Saeed said that the feasibility report would be completed in three months by the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak), following which it would take about a year to construct the flyover.

“The positive thing is that we don’t have to acquire any land for the project as enough land is already available,” he said.

Saeed said that the widening of Garden Town Main Boulevard would begin once the flyover and underpass are in the final stages. “Without broadening the road the underpass might not be as useful as it should be,” he said.

He said that the road would be widened from 24 feet to 36 feet. Another lane will be added along with service lanes. He said that the Barkat Market traffic signal would be removed and the next Y junction would be widened so vehicles could take a u-turn from there.

Saeed estimated that the road widening project would cost Rs275 million. It will include building benches, an overhead pedestrian bridge and new plantations. The feasibility report for this project will also be conducted by Nespak. It will take about four months to complete, he added.