Govt gives Rs2b to Pakistan Railways for salary and pension

Ministry of finance has released Rs2 billion to Pakistan Railway (PR) for the payment of salaries and pensions to its 85,000 regular and 150,000 retired employees before Eid-Ul-Azha.
The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) was directed to expedite payment to staff and pensioners by reducing undue administrative hurdles to make the payments to PR employees in time. The bank was directed to establish more counters at its branches to facilitate railway pensioners.
A meeting of railway officials Secretary Finance Waqar Masood and NBP was held on Wednesday. The meeting was informed that NBP would take three to four days in giving payments to railway pensioners and employees after the release of funds from the government.
The matter for a Rs6.1 billion loan was also discussed in the meeting. It was informed that PR and NBP, the biggest lender in the loan agreement have finalised the details and PR is likely to get the loan after Eid. The President in a meeting with railway and finance officials on October 17th, advised the government to arrange a loan of Rs6 billion exclusively for the purchase and repair of 300 locomotives. By getting the money all suspended trains would come back on track within a 3 to 4 month time, an official said.
The PR required Rs1.5 billion a month (18 billion annual) for payment of salaries to its regular staff and 0.8 million a month (9.6 billion annual) for payment of pensions. PR releases the salaries and pensions to its employees in four different stages as it divided its employees into four different groups.
Pakistan Railway Chairman Javed Iqbal on 18th October said that the locomotives would be repaired till March next year. He said that Shell, Pakistan State Oil, DP World and National Logistics Cell (NLC) have shown an expression of interest (EoI) for railway operation under public-private partnership. He said that after the bail out package railway would be in a position to earn Rs22 billion in 2012-13.
Railway is also not in a position to pay Rs40 billion over draft to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The President directed the Finance Division to solve the matter of outstanding over-draft. The Ministry of Railways has proposed to the government that the Pakistan Railways over draft of Rs40 billion should be converted into an investment in the entity or seeks its conversion in a soft loan with reduced mark up.