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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
The domestic transportation system was not well
developed at
independence. Railroads were the main means of
transportation,
but the network in West Pakistan had been constructed
under the
assumption that the area formed part of a larger
subcontinental
economic and political entity and was not suited to the
needs of
the new nation. Considerable development was necessary to
improve
links between Karachi, Pakistan's first capital and the
country's
principal port and commercial center, and Punjab, where
Islamabad
was established as the new administrative capital in 1962.
In the 1970s and 1980s, road and air networks grew
considerably faster than did the railroads. Between FY
1978 and
FY 1992, the volume of freight and the number of
passengers
carried by rail increased only slightly, whereas
road-borne
freight and the number of air passengers more than
doubled. In
1994 transportation policy was aimed at shifting more of
the
traffic back to the rail system, with a long-term goal of
a railto -road freight traffic ratio of 33:67 by 2000. However,
it
appears unlikely that this target will be met.
In June 1992, the road system covered 179,752
kilometers, of
which asphalt roads made up 51.2 percent
(see
fig. 8). The
number
of motor vehicles more than doubled during the 1980s.
Their
number was estimated at nearly 2 million in 1992,
including
932,000 motorcycles, 454,000 automobiles, 220,000
tractors,
157,000 trucks and vans, and 37,000 buses. In March 1992,
the
government approved a five-year Rs73 billion program of
road
construction and rehabilitation. This plan included
building a
four-lane 339-kilometer highway between Lahore and
Islamabad,
scheduled for completion in mid-1995. Road transport is
mostly in
the private sector, but some passenger and freight
services are
provided by public-sector corporations.
The railroad system is government owned and covers
8,775
kilometers
(see
fig. 9). In FY 1992 there were 753
locomotives
and 34,851 freight wagons. The system usually runs at a
loss. In
mid-1992 the most profitable route, that between Lahore
and
Faisalabad, was privatized. It is expected that the
government
will attempt to privatize other rail routes, but the
LahoreFaisalabad line was renationalized in September 1993 when
the
private operator failed to make a profit.
Shipping capacity decreased in the 1980s. The merchant
fleet,
almost all operated by the Pakistan National Shipping
Corporation
(PNSC), consisted in 1992 of twenty-two vessels, down from
fifty
vessels in 1982. Approximately half the fleet is more than
fifteen years old and is unsuited to present needs. The
PNSC
handled 2.74 million tons of cargo in the last six months
of
1991, compared with 2.77 million tons during the
corresponding
period in 1990. In 1992, in line with its privatization
policy,
the government invited applications for setting up a
private
shipping sector and promised to operate the PNSC on a
commercial
basis.
There are two international ports--Karachi and Port
Muhammad
bin Qasim. In the early 1990s, Karachi handled the bulk of
the
traffic. During the nine months ending in March 1992,
Karachi
handled 14.7 million tons of cargo, of which 11.0 million
tons
were imports and 3.7 million tons exports. This was 4.2
percent
more cargo than was handled during the corresponding
period of
1990-91. Port Qasim, which is fifty-three kilometers south
of
Karachi, handled 5.8 million tons of cargo in the first
nine
months of FY 1992.
In early 1994, the major airline was the
government-controlled Pakistan International Airlines
(PIA). PIA
had a fleet of forty-seven aircraft in March 1993, of
which
fifteen were wide-bodied Boeing 747s and A300-B4s. The PIA
network includes forty-five international and thirty-five
domestic airports. There are international airports at
Karachi,
Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta. Several small
private
airlines began operating domestic routes in 1993. One of
these
carriers, Shaheen Air International, also operates
international
cargo routes and plans to provide international passenger
service
in 1994 or 1995.
Data as of April 1994
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