ISLAMABAD:Pakistan Railways (PR) has sold around 3,705 metric tons of scrap through fair and transparent bidding and reserved almost 11,836 metric tons for railways’ use.
“The railways scrap is an asset of the country while scrap disposal target per annum is in billion of rupees which is added to the national exchequer,” an official source in the Ministry told reporter.
He said that copper scrap has not been disposed of for some time while some scrap was recently given on Government-to-Government basis and the department had received heavy amount in this regard.
Around 18,867 metric tons of scrap is yet to be auctioned and its estimated value was around Rs 2358.375 million at a cost of Rs125 per kg without taxes, he added.
He said that Ministry of Railways has the concerned officers to speed up the sale auction process of pending scrap.
To a question, he said Pakistan Railways is trying its level best to transform itself into a profitable organization despite financial constraints. The department in this regard has developed a two-pronged action plan that included concentration on core activities and emphasis on revenue generation through non-core activities.
He said Pakistan Railways has been serving the nation since independence. There have been decades of neglect when it comes to investment in railway infrastructure and rolling stock. This neglect has adversely impacted the financial need of the department.
“During the first half of the current financial year 2022-23 brought more bad news for the department as the unprecedented floods due to climate change played havoc with the already dilapidated infrastructure,” he added.
It not only resulted in revenue loss for Pakistan Railways as train operations remained suspended for more than 35 days but it also put a further burden on the department in terms of restoration of Railway traffic from its meager resources.
About the concentration on core activities, he said that Pakistan Railways has prepared a business plan in January 2023 to increase its revenue and reduce expenditure through improved governance. The plan is being implemented in letter and spirit.
The recent initiatives towards digitization in form of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Railway Automated Booking and Travel Assistance (RABTA) also aim to increase efficiency and reduced the revenue expenditure gap.