The ADB has made an offer to finance the ML-1 project
On February 9, news sources said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered to pay for the USD 10 billion Karachi-Peshawar railway Main Line-1 (ML-1) project.
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Even though there was no agreement with China, the international lending agency offered to carry out the project. Sources say that Pakistan has turned down the offer because it is in the middle of talks with China under the government-to-government (G2G) agreement. Planning Secretary Syed Zafar Ali Shah told the media that the federal government wants to work with China on the multibillion-dollar project because China wants to do it. He said that the government would accept the ADB’s offer and use it for some other project.
It’s important to remember that the ADB had already offered to run the ML-1 project but was turned down. At the time, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the government would use the ADB’s offer in other development projects, such as the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Programme.
