ISLAMABAD: To put the Pakistan Railways on the right track, the federal finance secretary on Friday proposed the government to privatise the organisation, saying the move would cure all its financial and administrative woes.
Finance Secretary Salman Siddique proposed the privatisation of Pakistan Railways due to the government’s financial constraints as well as Pakistan Railways’ poor performance for the last several years. He said the Finance Division was unable to provide more funds to Pakistan Railways due to its financial constraints.
Informing the special committee of Public Accounts Committee, which met with Riaz Hussain Pirzada in the chair to review the audit reports of the Finance Ministry for the years 1994-95 and 1997-98, Siddique said the budget deficit of the department had consistently increased in the past several years and it had virtually failed to improve its performance.
“Pakistan Railways has only 590 engines of which 290 locomotives are out of order,” he said.
Can’t fund it anymore – Finance Division proposes privatisation of Railways
