Paperwork has been completed to lease out 41.5 acres of Railway land to Bilour family.
Documents available with Dunya News show that to set up Aza Khel dry port near Peshawar, Rs 700 million worth of land was being leased out to ANP leader Ilyas Bilour’s relative and former APTMA chairman Moshin Aziz for Rs 2.2 million a year after under-evaluating the land price at Rs 370 million. Railways legal adviser Imdad Ali has reportedly refused to sign the document after objecting to many clauses. Federal Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour however is allegedly seeking removal of the legal adviser.
All other companies applying for pre-qualification have been rejected while the land’s price is based on 2007 estimates. Instead of setting the royalty on containers at Rs 1000 per container, it has been set at $10 per container, thus trying to allow the contractor pocket Rs 150 per container at the cost of loss to the Railways. The Aza Khel Trust will invest Rs 174 million in the project. The profit to the Railways through Afghan trade and 16,000 bogies is estimated at Rs 250 to 300 million, according to the document.
