Pakistan pushes ADB for more funding for ML-1, public-private partnerships

Pakistan has asked the Asian Development Bank for larger financing for public-private partnerships, including ML-1, the Karachi-Peshawar Main Railway Line, a $10 billion flagship project. An ADB delegation led by Vice President Yingming Yang is in Islamabad, where it held separate talks on Wednesday with Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. The visit forms part of follow-up work on the $10bn Country Partnership Strategy covering 2026-30, which the ADB board approved in March.

Pakistan has so far received $2bn from the Manila-based lender for the Karachi to Rohri stretch of its 1670-km railway, which is now under way. Informed sources said the Economic Affairs Division is in talks with the bank on extra facilities, among them guarantee instruments and private-sector structures. EAD spokesperson Sabina Qureshi had not replied to a query from Dawn.

Mr Cheema said reforms over the past three to four years, coordinated with the IMF, ADB and World Bank, had restored confidence and supported credit rating upgrades. He called ML-1 a national flagship, said privatisation was a priority and that PPP frameworks and a pipeline of projects were in progress. Yang welcomed the improved sovereign ratings and proposed a working group on railway institutional reforms, while the EAD said the bank could offer policy-based guarantees and a guarantee for Panda bond issuance.