According to a report by a local media outlet, the construction of ML-1 project in three phases had been approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) in its meeting held in August last year. The actual cost of the project was initially $9bn, including equity amount of the government of Pakistan but was later reduced to $6.8bn. Following the approval of the loan needed for the project, it will be sent to respective Chinese ministries dealing with the railways and planning and development related matters. This whole process would take a couple of months, after which the ministry would be able to initiate the international bidding process. Article continues after this advertisementIt will reduce travel time from Karachi to Lahore from 18 to 10 hours.

Source: Pakistan Today April 21, 2021 09:45 UTC