Pakistan Railways (PR) Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique on Sunday said that the government was not considering privatising the railways.
Talking to media personnel, he said that the PR would prove itself a profitable department within the current year and its privatisation was, thus, out of the question.
Responding to a question about a public-private partnership, Saad said that private companies would not be discouraged but not a single penny would be written off to any company.
Mentioning several pro-railway steps taken by him, Saad said that the PR was on the right track now and would soon deliver.
Furthermore, he said that the purchase of locomotives was the PR’s top priority and that transparency would be ensured in any deal with locomotive manufacturing companies.
Moreover, he told the media personnel that a power van agreement had been recently revived and an amount of Rs 140 million had been saved through an amendment in van manufacturing.
He also said that a contract of diesel generating sets with a US company was cancelled due to irregularities, adding that a new tender would be sought in this regard.
PR Operations General Manager Anjum Pervaiz, PR Inspector General Manager Ibne Hussain, PR Additional General Manager Javaid Anwar and other senior officers were also present at the occasion.
