ISLAMABAD, Jul 22 (APP):The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways on Monday constituted a Sub-Committee to address issues of railway land encroachments and leases and will submit its report to the Standing Committee in 30 days.
The Standing Committee on Railways, chaired by Rai Hassan Nawaz, MNA, appointed Ramesh Lal, MNA, as convenor of the Sub-Committee, with Waseem Qadir, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, and Zulfiqar Ali, MNAs, as members. The meeting was held in the Committee Room of the Ministry of Railways, “D” Block, Pak-Secretariat, Islamabad.
The Ministry of Railways provided the Committee with a detailed briefing on its operations and performance, followed by an in-depth discussion and recommendations to support the Ministry and its departments.
At the outset, the Secretary, Ministry of Railways apprised the Committee that the Ministry looking after all the matters pertaining to Pakistan Railways, safety/maintenance of railway lines for strategic reasons and coordinating in development projects of railways as a part of the national development program.
He said that the Ministry also negotiated with international organizations and other countries and implemented the agreements with them.
While briefing on the transport and economy at the macroeconomic level, the Secretary informed the Committee that transportation is linked to a level of output, employment and income. He said that transportation accounts between 6% and 12% of the GDP in many countries.
Logistic costs can account between 6% and 25% of the GDP, he added.
However, at the microeconomic level, transportation is linked with producer, consumer and distribution costs. He further stated that transportation accounted, on average, between 10% and 15% of household expenditure.
The Secretary also briefed about various issues combating by Ministry of Railways. He explained that 95% of budget was being utilized on pension, pay and fuel. There was no targeted subsidy for Ministry. The priority of the Government was road network instead of Railways network in the country. He also informed the Committee regarding cost cutting and revenue optimization, restructuring, rightsizing, improvement, upgradation and expansion in railways.
The meeting was attended by Waseem Qadir, Sadiq Ali Memon, Rafiq Ahmed Jamali, Ramesh Lal, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, Mohammad Ilyas Choudhary, Fazil Muhammad Khan, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Zulfiqar Ali and Shafqat Abbas, MNAs. The senior officers from Ministry of Railways and Pakistan Railways were also present in the meeting.
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