ISLAMABAD: New Railways Minister Saad Rafique has put all deals for engines with China firms on hold and a major US supplier pulled out of a $540 million deal for 150 engines to allow the new government to buy engines in a transparent manner without losing time.
Rafique claimed on Geo TV yesterday that railways was suffering losses of over Rs40bn this year, has to repay foreign loans of Rs35bn and has taken overdraft of Rs40bn from the State Bank of Pakistan. During the Capital Talk, he said he had put all purchases of Chinese engines on hold as the engines were trash. “We were given 69 engines by China (in 2001) but they were all ‘Number 2’ quality and the PPP government ordered to purchase 50 more of the same. I have put all of this on hold and a probe has started,” the minister said.
The PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was also on the Hamid Mir show, supported the railways minister and demanded that those who had made money on these shady deals must be exposed and punished. The railways minister agreed. The US engines supplier Electro-Motive Diesel had been awarded a tender of 150 new engines by the Pakistan People’s Party government in October 2012 at a cost of $540m. But the company said it had pulled out of the deal.
Internews
