(Lahore):
ReNews Reporter

Pakistan’s railway authorities have stepped up a nationwide campaign to reclaim state owned railway land following directives from the federal minister for railways and senior officials with Lahore emerging as the focal point of the operation. Officials say the city contains some of the most valuable railway owned property in the country prompting enforcement action on an unprecedented scale.

The latest phase of the drive has extended well beyond residential encroachments to dismantle extensive commercial and agricultural occupations. According to officials factories workshops and warehouses in areas including Mughalpura Harbanspura and around the cantonment have been cleared from railway land. In total around twenty five acres have been recovered much of it located close to some of Lahore’s most sought after residential and commercial neighbourhoods. Market based estimates place the cumulative value of the reclaimed land at more than Rs 50bn.

Senior officials at Pakistan Railways said the operation is being carried out with the support of the railway police and district administration with cases registered under the Railways Act. They warned that any public officials found to have facilitated or protected illegal occupations would face both departmental inquiries and criminal proceedings.

Government and railway sources stressed that the reclaimed land would not be left idle. Instead it is to be deployed under a structured commercial strategy aimed at strengthening the railways’ fragile finances. Portions of the land are expected to be leased through public private partnership arrangements to generate long term revenue and help offset the organisation’s chronic deficits. A significant share is also earmarked for the ML-1 project which involves upgrading the main railway corridor from Lahore to Karachi to increase speeds capacity and operational safety.

In parallel officials are examining proposals to develop modern commercial centres shopping complexes and parking facilities on land surrounding major railway stations. The projects are intended to improve urban amenities while creating a steady income stream for the railways in line with international transit oriented development models.

Economic analysts say the recovery of railway land valued at more than Rs 50bn could materially strengthen the balance sheet of Pakistan Railways and help restore investor confidence in the sector. They argue the campaign may also bring greater transparency to Lahore’s real estate market and curb the entrenched culture of illegal land occupation and unauthorised housing schemes that has long distorted urban growth.