Govt Increases Railway Budget to Rs. 123 Billion for FY 2020-21 - Android

The government has earmarked a grant of Rs. 40 billion for Pakistan Railways (PR) for the fiscal year 2020-21 to… Read More

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The government has earmarked a grant of Rs. 40 billion for Pakistan Railways (PR) for the fiscal year 2020-21 to meet its losses, compared toRs. 39 billion allocated for 2019-20, which was later revised upward to Rs. 42 billion, revealed budget documents.

The government has budgeted a total of Rs. 123.3 billion for PR for the fiscal year 2020-21 compared to Rs. 113 billion budgeted for the current fiscal year, showing an increase of around 8 percent.

Under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), the government has earmarked Rs. 24 billion for the next fiscal year against Rs. 16 billion earmarked for the current fiscal year. Additionally, Rs. 99.3 billion has been earmarked to defray salaries and other expenses of railway employees.

Pakistan Railways has huge employee expenditure amounting to Rs. 99.3 billion for the next fiscal year against Rs 96 billion for the outgoing year, which was later revised to Rs. 94 billion.

The operating cost for 2020-21 is estimated at Rs. 24.22 billion against the revised Rs. 22.77 billion for the current fiscal year. Railways will spend Rs. 35.2 billion for employees’ retirement benefits against Rs. 33.37 billion for the current fiscal year which was later revised to Rs. 35.05 billion.

Pakistan Railways will have to pay Rs. 182 million for transfers and postings of its employees. Further, Rs. 12.426 billion has been budgeted for allowance for the next fiscal year compared to Rs. 12.083 billion for the outgoing fiscal year.

• An allocation of Rs. 6 billion has been made for the up-gradation of Pakistan Railways’ existing Main Line-1 (ML-I) and establishment of a dry port near Havelian (2018-22) Phase-1 (CPEC),
• Rs. 2.5 billion for the acquisition of land for a railway corridor from seaport Km:5.25 to Km:9.00 and Railway Operational Land from 12.00 to Km:14.00 at Gwadar,
• Rs. 50 million for China Pakistan Economic Corridor Support Project (CPECSP) at Ministry of Railways, Rs. 1.5 billion for preliminary design/drawings for up-gradation/rehabilitation of mainline (ML1) and establishment of a dry port near Havelian under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hiring of design/drawings vetting consultants,
• Rs. 3.25 billion for procurement/manufacture of 820 high capacity bogie freight wagons and 230 passenger coaches, Rs 700 million for procurement of 75 Nos. (55Nos. 4000- 4500 H.P & 20 Nos. 2000-2500 H.P) diesel-electric locomotives (DELs) (2nd Revised),
• Rs. 2.7 billion for the special repair of 100 Nos D.E locomotives for improving the reliability/availability of running locomotives,
• Rs. 1000 million for the special repair of 600 passenger coaches and 1200 bogie wagons,
• Rs. 330 million for track Rehabilitation on Khanpur-Lodhran Section, Rs 1.5 billion for Operationalization of Train on existing KCR alignment,
• Rs. 300 million for the revival of Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) – Phase2, Rs 450 million for Rehabilitation of Track Between Sama Satta – Bahawalnagar on Sama Satta – Amruka Section and Rs 400 million for the rehabilitation of track between Rehmani Nagar – Bakrani Road on Dadu-Habib Kot Section (Sukkur Division Ph-4).

According to the Economic Survey 2019-20, during the first eight months of the fiscal year 2020 (July-February), gross earnings grew by 8.4 percent and amounted to Rs. 36,916.85 million compared to Rs. 34,066.12 million during the same period last year.

During July-February FY2020, the number of carried passengers decreased to 39.4 million against 39.9 million during the corresponding period last year, representing a decline of 1.20 percent. Passenger traffic (km million), freight carried (tonnes million), and freight (tonnes km million) declined by 3.54 percent, 0.56 percent, and 0.07 percent respectively.

The total working expenses of the corporation have increased by 19 percent during July-February FY 2020 over the same period last year and remained Rs. 41.05 billion compared to Rs. 34.383 billion during the same period of last year.

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