China's Exim bank pledges to loan for rails purchase in Pakistan in 2010

China's Exim bank pledges to loan for rails purchase in Pakistan in 2010 In September 2010 Pakistan Railways signed an MoU with China Railway Material Import and Export Company. Under the agreement, the Chinese company would provide 25,000 metric tons of rails to Pakistan Railways.

Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Vice President of the Chinese company Liang Jian Zhong signed the MOU, and the GM of the Chinese company Chneng Xianzhou and PR high officials were also present on the occasion. 16000 tons of the rail material would be utilised on Khanewal and Raiwind tracks while 9000 tons would be used along the Lodhran and Shahdara tracks, for signals upgrades.

The project would take 6 months to complete.

The project cost is US$ 20.625 million; the Pakistani government would provide Rs. 600 million, while the remainder would be covered by a loan from Exim Bank. It is likely that this project never moved beyond the pledge stage. In Chinese official sources, there was no mention of Chinese funding.