PM Shehbaz discusses need for ML-1 railway project's early groundbreaking in meeting with ADB official

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged an early groundbreaking for the Karachi-Peshawar main railway line, known as ML-1, when he met Asian Development Bank vice president Yingming Yang in Islamabad on Friday, according to a Prime Minister's Office statement reported by Dawn. The government called the long-delayed project a vital national infrastructure priority, saying upgrades would improve freight logistics and regional trade links. The $10 billion ML-1 project is one of several public-private partnership schemes that Pakistan wants to see backed by larger ADB financing.

Yang leads an ADB delegation now in Islamabad, following up on the Country Partnership Strategy, or CPS, for 2026 to 2030, approved in March. Shehbaz credited fiscal and governance reforms with restoring macroeconomic stability and reinforcing investor confidence. He added that Fitch, Moody's and S&P had given Pakistan stable outlook upgrades. The two leaders also discussed cooperation on private sector support, energy and food security, export competitiveness, artificial intelligence and IT.

Yang was also welcomed on his first official visit to Pakistan as vice president for the bank's South, Central and West Asia region. Shehbaz said administrative bottlenecks were being cleared with dedicated execution task forces. According to the PMO, the two sides agreed to turn the CPS 2026 to 2030 priorities into measurable results that support sustainable growth and living standards.