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PREAMBLE The World Bank held a
Workshop on the Perspective of Civil Society in Transport Sector
in Pakistan in January this year in Karachi in order to develop a
comprehensive strategy for the development of Transport Sector in
Pakistan. This Workshop concluded in nominating Coordinators.
These coordinators were given the task of formulating reports in
their respective fields. Various meetings were held by these
coordinators between themselves and with the officials of
departments such as Railways, National Highway Authority, Ports
and Shipping etc., and sector-wise reports have been prepared by
the respective coordinators. These reports deal with roads and
railways, urban transport, ports and shipping. The report by the
Aviation coordinators have been separately submitted to the World
Bank and is not included in the body of this document. The Chartered
Institute of Transport had prepared a paper captioned “National
Transport Policy” in 1998. This paper is also included as it
contains points similar to those in the reports now prepared by
the coordinators. Since issues relating
to women participation are relevant to all the sectors Aurat
Foundation’s views have also been appended herewith. The following common
policy matters have emerged from the perusal of the reports. 1.
All modes of transport have a role to play in movement of
men and material. A common transport policy applicable to all
modes is to move people and goods efficiently, economically and
safely in an environmentally sustainable framework. 2.
Development of all modes of transport should be under a
fair and impartial regime. Individual modes should not receive any
preferential treatment. The main aims of a competent
transportation strategy plan is to ensure that all the users are
provided an efficient, fast but safe and cost effective service.
It will be necessary to ensure that the services offered are
readily accessible, easily affordable and adequately responsive to
the changing needs of the society. All
the options available for overland movement should be considered.
The transit of liquid cargoes through pipelines and the
carriage of passengers and freight on inland waterways
represent the other modes of overland transportation. The
pipelines already transport about 40% of the country’s liquid
petroleum products from Karachi to the Punjab. It would,
therefore, be advantageous to further develop this mode of
transportation as it provides the best means of moving large
tonnage of bulk liquid products, it would accrue long term
benefits for the country and it will lessen the burden of oil
tanker traffic moving on road. The advantages for developing the
pipeline option would mean: -
Saving
to the country resulting from the reduction in the fuel bill 3.
The implementation of the policy should recognize and
preserve inherent advantages of each mode. Further it
should
be guided by market forces and ensure fair wages as well as
equitable working conditions. 4.
The objective of the Integrated Transport Policy should be
to meet to commercial needs of Pakistan, and encourage tourism.
The dictates of national defense and emergencies should also be
kept in mind. 5.
Transport
as a whole be declared an “Industry” imbibed with all the
freedoms and privileges which accrue to an industry. 6.
Transport should. be placed under one ministry to ensure a
coordinated and cost effective development of all the modes
according to their inherent advantages and disadvantages. Ministry
of Transport should have simple and functional organisation. At present there are three separate ministries, namely Communications, Railways and Defense, representing the four modes of transportation (road, rail, sea and air). These ministries are pursuing their programmes independently with scant negligible coordination between them. For better management it is logical to establish a Ministry of Transport to cater for the collective transportation needs of the country. There are a number of examples worldwide to base our Ministry of Transport on but it will require careful assessment and detailed planning to establish this new ministry. The formulation of a single ministry has to be given serious thought as it is no longer feasible for the government to work in independent compartments. 7.
In the past transport infrastructure has been the sole
responsibility of public sector. Under The
under developed countries have no option but to invite the private
sector to invest and apply their entrepreneurial skills towards
the development of the infrastructure. The desired results can
only be achieved provided the investors feel confident that a
reasonable level of return will be forthcoming. At the same time
the interest of the users will have to be protected by avoiding
monopolies that affect the quality and the cost of making the
services available. With
the close partnership envisaged between the government and the
private sector in the future, it is essential that a common
platform should exist where important policies are discussed and
decisions are made in concurrence with one another. This body
should have the agenda to promote a healthy, efficient and cost
effective transportation industry. 8.
Under the new transport policy, public sector elements of
transport industry should be competitive. Hence they should not be
subjected to Red Tape and Governmental interference but should be
given full commercial freedom. 9.
With the emphasis on privatisation and deregulation in the
transport sector, all existing laws (Acts/Ordinances) under which
different modes of transport are operating have to be reviewed and
modified. This is a very important task, which has to be under
taken by the Transport Ministry. The
last two decades has seen major changes in the concept of
transportation and in order to meet the needs of the changed
environment it is necessary to bring about changes in legislation.
While
changing
the rules and regulations to cater for the new situation
should 10.
Safety is an important element of all modes of transport.
It is therefore essential that a single Safety Board under the
Ministry of Transport should be established to ensure a
coordinated approach and achieve economy. 11.
Without financial provision, transport policy cannot be
implemented. It is therefore imperative that adequate financial
allocation must be made for each mode by the public or private
sector. Financing of transport infrastructure may have to be made
on a BOT, BOO or BOOT basis. 12.
A comprehensive transportation policy will require an
efficient and easily accessible interface between the four modes
of transportation: -
Road Bus & freight terminals /
stations Without
a well-designed interface between the different modes of transport
the multimodal concept cannot be truly achieved. It is therefore,
essential that the development of such terminals or stations
should be given due importance to ensure the easy transfer of
passengers and cargo from one mode to another. 1.
ROADS AND ROAD TRANSPORT 1.1
The network of roads with motor vehicles plying on them
provides the greatest mobility and flexibility to transporting
passengers and freight. It is therefore, important to ensure that
the road system is well developed to cater to the needs of the
community. In order to ensure a healthy economic activity the
optimum density of the road network should be in excess of 0.5 km.
per square km. The total road network in Pakistan is 145,000 kms.
which gives a density of only 0.18 km. per square km. It is
therefore necessary to increase the length of roads in the country
by almost three folds, in order to achieve the desired density to
promote healthy economic activity. The
road network in the country should be classified under the
following heads with the responsibility of their construction and
maintenance resting with the federal, provincial, district, local
and municipal administrations: a) Motorways and
Highways
under Federal control The
last category comes under the Urban Transport and is covered
separately. 1.2.
COORDINATION There
is an absence of regular and formal coordination between the
numerous government agencies. Starting from the top there are
three ministries for four modes of transportation, namely road,
rail, sea and air. Each ministry formulates their plans
independently and they have negligible coordination with one
another. It is therefore, imperative that a single body is formed
to be able to prepare a comprehensive strategy plan where the
limited resources available are effectively allocated to each mode
of transportation. It is therefore, logical to establish a single
Ministry of Transport to take control of all the transportation
requirements of the country and to monitor the progress of each
mode of transport under a unified master plan. Such a fundamental
change in our administrative structure requires careful planning
and we must avoid making hasty decisions. There are numerous
examples to base our Ministry of Transport on, but under no
circumstances should we procrastinate in establish such a unified
organisation that will have the collective responsible of the
transportation sector. 1.3.
MONITORING It
is necessary to constantly monitor and re-examine the policies
adopted but the tendency to make frequent reversals must be
avoided. One of the main reasons for the lack of success in
developing our infrastructure is the absence of a
long term strategy plan, which has resulted in
frequent-reversal of policies adopted by each successive
government. 1.4. CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
- Well
constructed and maintained roads will provide the means of
ensuring fast and trouble free transit. In order to achieve this
objective it will be necessary to build and maintain roads for the
type and volume of traffic using them. The adoption of a road
construction and maintenance standard is therefore, the first step
in following a uniform policy as to what type of roads to build
and maintain for the volume of traffic using them. A standard
specification for constructing and maintaining motorways and
highways, bridges, district and farm to market roads, and
different types of urban roads has to be adopted This will enable
all the agencies to follow a specific standard in ensuring that
the pavement, the number of lanes, geometry of the intersection
road signs etc are uniform Once the standards have been
established it
will
be necessary to strictly follow them in all regions and provinces. 1.5.
MAINTENANCE There
is a need to establish a regime whereby the management of the
country’s road network is more effective. There is a special
need to strengthen and improve the management of existing agencies
involved in the building and maintenance of roads and bridges.
There has to be a more effective system to promptly identify
damaged sections of the road network and have them duly repaired.
The recent initiative from The World Bank to establish a Road
Maintenance Fund that will cater for the maintenance of existing
roads with the participation of the private sector should be
expedited. The funds for this programme will be generated outside
the annual Federal and Provincial budget and will be controlled
jointly by the public and private sectors. The majority of the
members including the Chairman will be from the private sector. By
encouraging the establishment of impartial institutions and
monitoring regimes will go a long way in removing the undesirable
practices that seem to plague the existing system 1.6.
PRIORITY IN CONSTRUCTION The
construction of new roads should be decided strictly by economic
prioritization Keeping in view the present economic conditions, it
is necessary that only economic considerations should govern all
decisions on new roads However, there is a need to increase the
mileage of the road network especially the farm to market and
district roads. The inter-city and provincial roads also need to
be widened and upgraded provided traffic warrants it
In
order to proceed ahead with a practical and effective plan the
need to rely on relevant traffic data is essential. 1.7 PRIVATE
SECTOR PARTICIPATION In
the current environment there seems to be little alternative but
to invite the private sector to invest in building and managing
new roads. In order to attract the private sector to participate
it
will
be necessary to put in place a programme that will ensure an
acceptable level of return to their investment. Revenue generation
through the operation of tolls is now an acceptable method of
financing such projects. Already
the private sector is heavily committed in running buses, trucks
and trailers on the network of roads and is by and large the main
service provider for carrying surface passengers and freight.
There are only a few well-organised passenger bus operators and
haulage companies as the majority of the entrepreneurs have a
fleet comprising of one or a few vehicles. Large haulage companies
operating a fleet of modern vehicles should be encouraged as their
induction would improve the services made available to the users,
such as, Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service. With the increase in road network mileage there will be an opportunity for a number of small and medium size business ventures to flourish by providing “down stream” support Repair facilities, hotel and restaurant etc. to name a few, will benefit from the changes envisaged in the infrastructure covering transportation. 1.8.
DATA BANK INFORMATION AND LICENSING OF VEHICLES In
order to make decisions, monitor on all aspects of road transport
it is necessary to have a detailed and up to dates
information available Technology has made this important tool
readily accessible to us with the advancement of computer
applications. The development of computer data through a
well-designed software application that will support an efficient
working procedure to ensure the success of the changes we wish to
see into our road management, better degree of control over the
wide network of agencies involved in this sector. By
making all relevant data available to the general public, as is
the case in the developed economies, the level of transparency
that is sadly lacking in our working environment would be over
come to some extent. With close monitoring and fast feedback from
the numerous projects would make the system flexible enough to
enable “fine tune” and amend the initial plan. With
a view to improving traffic management and enforcement there is a
need to introduce the computerized licensing of both vehicles and
drivers. The computerized data bank of vehicles and drivers will
make it easier to manage and collect taxes and at the same time
enable the law enforcing authorities to quickly trace traffic
violators. Traffic
police system needs to be revamped to eliminate rampant corruption
in this organization. It
would also meet the policy makers aim to involve and get a high
level of interaction and cooperation from the numerous local and
regulatory parties and agencies involved whether they relate to
policy making; construction and maintenance; providing a service;
and as users of the facilities available. 1.9. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Due
to a limited industrial base, especially in the transportation
sector, there is negligible research in developing new technology
to improve efficiency and the infrastructure. This however, should
not preclude us from establishing a Research and Development
Centre to cater for introducing innovative ideas with a view to
improving our transportation sector The National Transport
Research Centre (NTRC) is the only government agency that is
involved in limited research. It will be important to strengthen
this area by improving the performance of NTRC and at the same
time encouraging the formal and regular coordination between the
public and private sector establishments. A healthy coordination
between NTRC, Chartered Institute of Transport (CIT), the
Association of Road Users of Pakistan (ARUP -
an NGO
established for bringing awareness amongst the public related to
road issues) and any other reputable organisation will be able to
achieve positive results. 1.10.
ROAD MANAGEMENT & SAFETY At
present negligible attention is given by the road users in
observing the existing rules and regulations. Fast and rash
driving is the cause of many accidents. A
single factor that leads to the early deterioration of roads is
the widespread phenomenon of over loading on vehicles, especially
those involved in the carriage of freight. The existing legal
permissible axle load limit is 9.6 tons per axle but this is
routinely exceeded. Similarly, the carriage of over gauge cargoes
(when freight exceeds the dimensions of the carrying vehicle) has
resulted in unsafe conditions on our roads. The
major issues in road safety are: -
Inadequate
driving skills; the disregard of observing safe driving time for
an individual driver; The
traffic police has not been modernized in accrod with the demands
of time. There has been no change in the use of resources, whether
men or material to enforce traffic management. As a result of the
substantial increase in the volume of traffic, which in turn leads
to a larger number of traffic violations there has been
substantial deterioration in adjudicating such violations. In
order to improve the efficiency of road management a large number
of countries have now introduced the issuance of “tickets” for
minor traffic violations whereby a fixed amount of penalty for a
specific violation is payable to the administration. This acts not
only as a deterrent but is a source of revenue, which can be
re-channeled into the system for the betterment of traffic
management. 1.11.
VEHICLE UTILIZATION Large
number of vehicles plying on the network of roads represents a
large investment mainly from the private sector. Even though the
private sector investment is involved in purchasing vehicles, in
the long run it is the country’s resources that will have to
bear the accumulated burden. At present time overall fleet of
passenger and freight vehicles is old with a small percentage of
large and modern vehicles recently introduced in the country. The
trucking industry is mainly utilizing the old 9 tons Bedford
trucks, which are very expensive to operate and are fuel
inefficient. There is an urgent need to encourage the use of
larger trucks, trailers, tankers and buses with more axles, in
order to reduce the transportation costs, improve fuel efficiency
and minimize the damage to the roads. It would be advisable to
slowly phase out the use of Bedford trucks. 1.12.
RECOMMENDATIONS There
is a long list of suggestions and recommendations received from
many quarters. The following important issues should be addressed
to improve the performance of the transportation sector: 1)
Standards and Procedures: All road projects should be
assessed and prioritized strictly on economic criteria. Uniform
planning and design standards should be adopted to ensure safe
driving condition and life of road pavement. 2)
Give priority to the upgrading of existing major and
secondary roads as against the construction of new and high cost
motorways. This policy is to be observed until such time the
country is in a better position to afford the heavy burden of
constructing new motorways. 3)
Encourage the private sector participation in the
construction and management of the road network by introducing
“Build, Operate and Transfer” (BOT) schemes. These schemes
will however, attract the required funds only if the private
investor expects a reasonable level of return. 4)
For roads of national importance which do not fulfill
economic criteria such as strategic roads or roads for development
of economically backward areas a separate provision should be made
in the budget. 5)
With
a view to minimizing the damage to our roads it is necessary to
strictly enforce the existing rules regarding axle weight on
vehicles as per the recently enacted highway act. 6)
The introduction and development of a comprehensive
electronic data bank on the road network that is readily available
to the road management agencies and the public. This is an
important management tool that ensures effective control and
monitoring together with a level of transparency so much needed in
our system. The computerized licensing of vehicles and drivers is
to be separately compiled for streamlining the administrative
procedures and effective law enforcement of traffic violators. 7)
Encourage and implement a road safety regime on the roads
and make every effort to correct the attitude of the road users
by: •
Educating through the media and in educational
institutions, and A number of important
measures that will go a long way in improving the level of safety
on our roads are listed below: a)
Every effort is to be made to ensure that the existing
traffic laws are properly enforced. Wherever necessary new
legislation is to be enacted to bring them at par with the present
day requirements. b)
Enforce a common curriculum for testing drivers before
issuing driving permits. At the same time establish competent
driver training schools through private investment wherever
necessary in order to give proper driver training skills and
refresher courses and tests from time to time. As a first stage
all future public transport drivers must pass through such driver
training schools. c)
The enforcement of annual vehicle inspection programme is
imperative in order to ensure that well maintained vehicles only
are plying on the network of roads and highways in the country. At
the same time drivers over the age of 60 years are to undergo
annual medical test in order to ascertain they are medically fit
to continue driving. d)
Introduce legislation and thereafter enforce the use of
seat belts in all vehicles. Similarly, the use of crash helmets for two wheeled motor vehicles is to be
introduced and enforced. e)
Display speed limit signs at regular intervals on all roads
and highways. These speed limits f)
The performance of traffic police in the provinces must be
improved with better training and
providing them with suitable equipment in the way of motorcycles,
vehicles, wireless and speed monitoring equipment to name a few.
The performance of the Highway Police is a good example as to what
can be achieved with better training and working conditions. A
separate cadre of officers and personnel must be exclusively
retained for the traffic department without having to shift them
to other police departments. g)
Establish a Road Maintenance Fund. This fund will provide
funds generated from outside the
annual budget for the maintenance of existing roads. The public
awareness programme and developing a detailed data bank that will go hand in hand with
this project will have to be undertaken to make this new programme
a success. 2.
RAILWAYS 2.1
While Pakistan does not have a deep inland waterway system to
provide it
with
inexpensive inland transportation, it has inherited a well-developed
railway net work, providing a good rail connection to the
densely populated areas of the country. Keeping in view our
geographical layout (the distance between Karachi and Peshawar is
over 1,800 kms), long distances hauls are most economical handled by
rail while movement of passengers and freight over shorter distances
(say less than 500 kms.) is best served by road. In the same context
large bulk cargoes can be better carried by rail as against road. An
efficient blend of both means of carriage would therefore, be ideal
to cater for our inland surface transportation needs. 2.2
The history of the railway system is rich in tradition and
efficiency. It remained the major carrier of passengers and goods in
this region for many years even after independence. It is
unfortunate that during the last few decades such a well-run
organisation has been allowed to deteriorate due to mismanagement
and the allocation of inadequate recourses. During this time little
attention has been given to the railways by each successive
government, which has resulted in less passengers and tonnage being
carried by the current railway network as compared with the volumes
handled at the inception of Pakistan, over 50 years ago. At the same
time it has become a heavy burden on the public exchequer. While the
overall number of passengers and tonnage of freight in the country
has increased substantially, the benefit has gone to the road
haulage industry, which has immerged as the largest overland
carrier, catering for almost 90% of the total movement of passengers
and goods. This situation has given rise to further pressures on the
economy. The cost of road maintenance has increased substantially
(resulting from excessive use and overloading); increase in the
import bill covering the cost of fuel, vehicles and their spare
parts; deterioration in safety standards on the road network;
deterioration to the environment through emission of pollutant
gasses and excessive noise etc. These issues have already been dealt
with in the Road section. 2.3
It is important to analyse the poor performance of the
railways during the last few decades to enable us to revitalize this
valuable asset of the nation. The causes leading to the
deterioration in the performance of the railways will unfortunately, make a long list but
the main reasons for the downward slide are highlighted below for
which suitable corrective measures will have to be taken: •
Instead of placing the railways under an autonomous Railway
Board as envisaged in the Government of India Act 1935, it was run
as a department of the Government of Pakistan by merging the Railway
Board with the Ministry of Railways •
Railways lost its priority to the road sector and as a result
inadequate development funds were allocated to it •
The revenue generated was pooled into the main government
budget with no recourse to reinvest in railway projects •
The growing interference from the political and
administrative quarters undermined the organisations capabilities to
operate as a commercial enterprise •
The blatant disregard of recruitment policies as a result of
political pressures, which not only increased the numbers of the
work force but created indiscipline and poor productivity, all of
which lead to higher costs •
I he promotions and frequent transfers of officers due to
affiliations other than professional competence has resulted in the
decrease in administrative efficiency and has lowered the morale of
dedicated and honest professionals in the field This
list can go on but it is important to know the main causes for the
decline in order to introduce corrective measures and once again
raise the performance of this vital sector in the country’s
economic and social development. 2.4
RESTRUCTURING & REHABILITATION Despite
what has happened in the past, it is in the national interest to
develop the railway system to give it the rightful place it
deserves. While steps have been taken to restructure Pakistan
Railways there is a need to carry out this important task without
indulging in half measures. There is an urgent need to formulate a
complete strategy plan covering the restructuring process that will
have to be dealt with in clearly defined stages It will require
several years for the complete rehabilitation to take full effect.
This process must be well planned in advance and each step, together
with the time frame, must be clearly laid out. It has to be
comprehensive in nature and has to be tackled on a multi faceted
platform. The
restructuring process needs to lay down what fundamental changes are
to be introduced in the new Pakistan Railways. What will be
beneficial for the organisation and eventually the country .as to
what services should it provide and how? This debate has gone on for
a long time and by now certain well-defined objectives have emerged,
which are: (1)
Not to sell the property of Pakistan Railways but to allow
private investors to manage and operator different services offered
by them (2)
The need to concentrate on core services related to the
carriage of passengers and goods while leaving the non-core areas
i.e. manufacturing units (locomotive, wagon and sleeper factories),
hospitals, educational institutions etc. to be run independently,
possibly as private enterprises (3)
The need to make the Railway Board independent (4)
The early down sizing of the number of employees through
early retirements, (5)
To bring about an early change in the culture of the
railways from a bureaucratic to a commercial one 2.5
PROPERTY Pakistan
Railways has a substantial property portfolio, which it needs to
develop in order to derive the maximum benefits. Disposal of
property assets of the railways should not be disposed as a general
policy. Any exception to this rule should have legislatural approval
and public debate. It must be considered as a sacred trust of the
nation and no government in the future should ignore this important
reality. The process of better utilisation of the railway’s assets
has fortunately commenced with promising results and it should be
vigorously pursued to ensure a regular supplementary source of
revenue in the future. The concept of a “landlord” would
prove to be more beneficial in the long term as against a one-time
sale. In order to ensure the best use of railway property it is
recommended that a 2.6
PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION The
government has inadequate resources to take on the gigantic task of
developing the
railways.
It is therefore, necessary for the private sector to be invited to
invest the required resources in making this important national
asset into a viable and effective modern organization. The
participation of the private sector in traditionally public sector
enterprises is now an acceptable policy worldwide. Wherever this
policy has been applied in the past i.e. developed economies, the
infrastructure and, services offered are well developed and doing
exceptionally Well as compared to closely controlled economies. In
Pakistan there has already been much debate in allowing private
sector participation in developing and
managing
the railway network. Unfortunately there has so far been no positive
steps in achieving this recognized goal. There
is an urgent need for the railway infrastructure, operation,
commercial and marketing divisions to be modernized and made
efficient. It is necessary to implement a well-planned transition to
allow private sector participation by investing in railway projects,
providing managing skills and operating the railway services In
order to ensure that the required changes are implemented and the
desired level of service is achieved the policy to accord
“concessions” to reputable and professional operators will have
to be introduced. While the ownership of the infrastructure
continues to remain with the railways it may be necessary to allow
private professional parties to be involved in modernizing the
infrastructure together with managing and operating the various
services related to infrastructure i.e. communications, signaling,
deferred maintenance of track etc. The single overriding factor to
attracting the private sector to participate in this venture is to
ensure that they will derive a reasonable level of return on
investment. While the volume of business is conducive to investment
the private investor is deeply concerned about the security of his
investment. The government will have to ensure that a healthy
environment exists for this venture to succeed and they must honor
their long term commitments and responsibilities. In
order to proceed ahead in this direction it is essential that a well
balanced team of senior officers (from relevant railway
departments), a financial and legal advisor together with a
consultant preferably from the private sector prepare the details of
how best to proceed in this very important matter. The foundation of
the private participation plan has to be sound in order to ensure
that a strong “structure” will be built on it that will give the
desired results. After the due process is completed this team may be
disbanded or possibly down sized in order to act as a monitoring
cell to closely examine whether the private sector participation
plan is proceeding as envisaged. At the present time senior railway
officers are expected to prepare the private sector participation
plans in addition to carrying out their normal responsibilities. As
a result of this situation due time and attention is not given by
the officer concerned, nor is the special expertise made available
to this very important one time process. 2.7 OPEN
ACCESS POLICY & CONCESSIONS It
is the aim of the railway establishment to move towards private
participation in two phases. In the first stage the Open Access
Policy is to be introduced whereby prequalified private operators
will be allowed to run dedicated passenger and freight trains by
taking over the operations of existing railway locomotives and
rolling stock for a period of time They will be responsible for the
marketing and commercial activities of the services offered. In turn
they will have to pay a service charge to Pakistan Railways for
using their infrastructure. During the second phase Concessions will
be given to prequalified operators for a period of about 25 years
to operate dedicated services by importing and maintaining their own
locomotives and rolling stock. In turn they will be required to pay
a fee to Pakistan Railways in their capacity as a “landlord”.
Both these concepts are attractive but it is unfortunate, that while
.that Open Access Policy has already been planned for the last
several years, so far no positive development has taken place. It
will be necessary for the government and the railway management to
avoid procrastination and to proceed with both plans without further
delay. 2.8
MANUFACTURING & NON-CORE UNITS The
burden of running industrial units should be removed and passed on
to the private sector who are better equipped to manage such
ventures. It will however, be advisable to retain the ownership of
the manufacturing units represented by the locomotive, wagon and
sleeper factories. The assets of Pakistan Railways may be leased to
private operators who will have the option of meeting the
requirements of the local railway network and any surplus capacity
to other local or foreign buyers. For example in the wagon factors
it will be necessary to switch over from the century old wagon
design of the four wheeler and eight wheeler bogies to newer and
versatile rolling stock. The modern flat top car will be useful
equipment to introduce in our railway system. 2.9
HUMAN RESOURCES The
most important asset of any organisation is its human resources.
With a highly skilled and motivated managerial staff and labour
force an organisation is in an advantageous position to achieving
its goals. Despite the fact that Pakistan Railways is now carrying
far less passengers and freight than over 50 years ago, the
number of administrators and junior staff have substantially
increased. The organisation has unfortunately, not made full use of
the improvements achieved in modem management skills and
technologically advancements. There is therefore, an urgent
necessity to have the numbers of both managerial staff and labour
work force reduced to optimum levels. At the present time there are
about 95,000 employees out of which almost half are surplus to
requirements. There
is a need to bring about a major change in the organisational
culture of Pakistan Railways. It is not easy to undertake this
important task but it must be emphasized to the officers and junior
staff that their well being exists in making Pakistan Railways once
again the successful organisation it once was. It is hoped that with
the major changes to be experienced in the near future the
importance of this requirement will be quickly driven home. 2.10
MULTIMODAL CONCEPT It
is now an acceptable fact that the movement from one location to
another may involve more than one mode of transport. In order ensure
that passengers and freight have more trains within a specified
period of time, say a day, it will be necessary to increase the
frequency of trains by improving their speed and turn round time.
How this could be achieved for passenger and freight traffic is
briefly outlined below: 2.10.1 Passengers It
would be more economical to carry a large number of passengers
between densely populated centres located at long distances from one
another. The practice of stopping at small stations would become
unnecessary. It would be more acceptable to quickly get to the
nearest large station and end the journey by taking a well-scheduled
bus service running on a well-maintained road network to the final
destination. With faster transit the turned round of trains would
improve and make them available sooner for the return journey. With
the frequency of trains increasing the practice of having to reserve
rail passage days and sometime weeks in advance will not be
necessary. 2.10.2 Freight The
concept of door to door movement of freight in the national and
international market is presently the acceptable mode of carriage.
It should therefore, be our aim to developing this aspect of
transportation. The need to have a healthy blend of a rail and road
combi service is therefore, of utmost importance. It would be
necessary to introduce the flat top wagons to accommodate containers
for both the local and international traffic. This would be one of
the fundamental changes necessary to streamline the rail service.
The rolling stock presently in use was designed almost a hundred
years ago. A beginning has to be made as early as possible to
gradually introduce modem hardware in to the railway system. It will
be practical to implement a phased change over of the rolling stock
spread over a number of years. In the meantime, the efficiency of
the existing rail operations must be improved through effective and
dynamic management. 2.10.3 Interchange between rail and road With
the introduction of modem hardware representing containers it will
be necessary to bring about the required changes to efficiently
handle the new equipment wherever the interchange has to take place
between road and rail. The inception of dry ports (ICDs) over 25
years ago (the first dry port was established at Lahore in 1974)
located at commercial centres is presently catering for
international trade. These will have to be substantially improved
and in addition it will be necessary to establish modern terminals
to provide fast interchange facilities to the national traffic as
well. The induction of professional managers and the use of up to
date handling equipment (overhead cranes, stackers etc.) at these
terminals will be essential. Good road connections to these
terminals will be important, as will be the need to provide
sufficient space for vehicles to operate within the terminals of the
future. 2.11
INFORMATION NETWORK The
information technology has to be properly used to derive the best
results. It will be necessary to quickly introduce the issuance and
reservation of tickets through a computer network connecting all
large stations, similar to the airline industry. The technology and
facilities are presently available and relevant ‘changes are
necessary in the current system. Pakistan Railways are in the
process of introducing ticketing agents using the computer network
to give them this service. Similarly,
in the freight sector the need to introduce a computer network
especially to keep track of the rolling stock cannot be over
emphasized. This is now a normal routine practice in most railways
around the world. At the same time the signaling system of the
railway needs to be upgraded, preferably by introducing computer
technology. The
administrative applications of the computer in the age of IT
revolution is already well established, the need to ensure an
efficient, up to date and easily accessible information to all
stakeholders in the transportation sector is of utmost importance.
Each organization, whether in the public or private sector have
performance data available to them. So far the trade figures
compiled by the various government agencies (Pakistan Customs,
Export Promotion Bureau, Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority
etc.) do not have a common standard. Certain organizations record
the value of goods handled while others restrict themselves to the
tonnage carried or units moved. A standardized format for collecting
all relevant data (representing value, tonnage, unit etc.) at a
centralized Internet location would be an essential tool to enable
analyze trends that could assist all stake holders in effective
planning. This is an important tool in management. The concept of
sharing information is still alien to us and we must overcome this
basis fear. The need to establishing a Centralized Information
Bureau will therefore, be an important step forward towards
achieving the goal of making relevant information available to
interested parties. With the exception of “trade secrets”, if
any, there is much useful information, which if shared can be for
the common good of all parties concerned. The
start of the New Millennium brings new hopes and aspirations. Let it
become a time of stimulating change for a better future. Do we have
the resolve to achieve our goals by taking decisive steps now or
will we let this opportunity be lost to us? We have exciting times
ahead of us therefore, let us move ahead with an open mind and a
positive vision of the future. Developed
& Managed by
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