TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has identified four business areas aimed at easing of doing business in the sector after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took serious note of declining foreign and domestic investment, it is learnt.

Showing serious concern on declining foreign and domestic investment, the Prime Minister has directed all federal ministries, attached departments and autonomous entities to minimise the procedures for starting or doing business in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister has also directed that each federal ministry and its attached and autonomous organizations shall prepare a comprehensive code of procedure to be followed by applicants for each license, sanction or permission, the grant of which falls in their functional domain.

Following the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Railway Ministry has identified the following business areas in its functional domain where applicants are allotted/granted licence, sanction or permission to carry out respective activities: (i) international procurement of goods, works and services; (ii) lease of land for agriculture/ commercial purposes; (iii) lease of assets, i.e. kiosks, stalls, car parking lots, billboards; (iv) and outsourcing of railway services (passenger trains, cargo express, brake vans, luggage vans, dinning cars).

The Ministry of Railway has further stated that out of the aforementioned business areas, the international procurement activities are governed under the provisions of Public Procurement Rules, 2004, while the procedure for allotment/grant of license, sanction or permission relating to remaining three business areas is regulated through respective policies approved by the Ministry of Railways in line with relevant instructions of the federal government and other best management practices for ensuring fair deal, transparency and public interest.

Railways has identified 21 procurement procedure for international procurements including, Approval of PC-I / demand of the consumer, certification of availability of funds, agreement of loan by planning directorate, approval of tender documents by loan giving agency (if funded through loan provided by any donor agency), floating of tenders on single stage two envelop system or two stage two develop system of public procurement rules 2004, advertisement is published in four leading newspapers and uploaded on Pakistan Railways and PPRA websites, pre-bid conference to clarify the quarries of bidders, submission of tenders (technical and financial proposals), opening of technical proposals, technical evaluation by the committee, opening of financial bids of technically suitable proposals, proceedings of tender committee of BS-21 officers, acceptance by competent authority (Secretary /Chairperson Railways), issuance of evaluation report to all the bidders in terms of Rule 35 of PPR 2004, issuance of letter of intent, signing of contract agreement, demand of foreign exchange to M/o Finance, submission of LC application to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), LC established through National Bank of Pakistan, receipt of LC confirmation by the contractor/ supplier and contract shall be effective on confirmation of letter of credit.

The Ministry has also notified 15 stages of process of lease of Pakistan Railway land by Railway Estate Development & Marketing Company Pvt Ltd (READAMCO). These include, availability of land indicated by respective Pakistan Railways (PR) Division to READAMCO, joint visit by the respective officers of PR Division & READAMCO, approval of site plan from respective PR division & PR Headquarters office Lahore, preparation and approval of checklist by Divisional assessment committee, based on DC price and present market value, by the respective Divisional Superintendent, obtaining revenue record from the concerned PR Division, evaluation of the land from the State Bank of Pakistan accredited evaluators registered with Pakistan Banking Association (PBA) keeping in view the are and tenure of lease, submission of evaluation report & fixation of the benchmark of the land to competent authority, advertisement in national newspapers and uploading of notice on PPRA and PR website, constitution of bid opening committee by competent authority, submission of sealed bids by bidders as per terms of reference (TORs), evaluation of bids & recommendations of the committee as per evaluation criteria, evaluation report is prepared for seeking approval of the competent authority, approval by competent authority, issuance of letter of intent (LOI) and execution of agreement.

The railway official said that as per the Prime Minister’s directives, a focal person has been appointed who is also director procurement. Though the procedures have been streamlined; however there is further need to publicize it to facilitate international as well as local investors in the sector. Currently, Pakistan Railways is mainly focused on the public private partnership (PPP) mode and hence needs to make policies explicitly, senior official added.