Lahore: Premnagar dry port to complete by June

[Naveed Yaseen]

PAKISTAN Railways Chairman/Secretary Sami Khilji has said that more projects based on private-public partnership like the Premnagar Dry Port, will help reduce the PR debt.

According to a press release issued on Sunday, the PR chairman visited the Premnagar Dry Port to monitor the development projects. The additional general manager Traffic briefed the chairman about the activities on the site.

Sami Khilji said that the Premnagar Dry Port would be of great utility for the Chunia Industrial Estate and the Sindh Industrial Estate. He said the project would use Rs1,729 million of the PR in the Tracks and Operational systems, along with Rs1,235 million invested through joint venture of the Premier Mercantile and the Qasim International Contractors in construction expenses, warehouses, government offices, and heavy machinery such as containers.

The PR has bought 100 acres of private land around the Premnagar Railway Station through the Board of Revenue, Punjab, for Rs135.345 million. The Dry Port project is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2009, after which it would be leased to the two contributing private companies for 35 years while the Pakistan Railways would gain 100% ownership of all the structural and functional assets of the project.

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