ADB pledges to speed up procedures for ML-1 — The Express Tribune
The Asian Development Bank has pledged to speed up its internal procedures for Pakistan’s ML-1 railway modernization project. According to The Express Tribune, this happened during a meeting between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema and ADB President Masato Kanda on the sidelines of the bank’s annual meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Pakistani side also asked the ADB to expand lending to the private sector. Cheema called for increasing the bank’s volume of non-sovereign operations in Pakistan and strengthening its permanent presence in the country to support investment transactions and develop public-private partnership projects.
ML-1 project
The Pakistani delegation stressed the need for affordable development financing, greater flexibility in the ADB’s lending mechanisms and sustained support for the country’s priorities. Cheema noted the bank’s leading role in work on ML-1 and said that the feasibility study must be completed and procurement procedures launched as soon as possible.
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He also welcomed the approval of the ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy with Pakistan for 2026–2030. The Pakistani side emphasized a private-sector-oriented model of economic growth.
Islamic Development Bank financing
Separately, Cheema met with Islamic Development Bank Group Chairman Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser. They discussed accelerating cooperation under the Member Country Partnership Strategy for 2026–2030, which provides for indicative financing by the bank group of $5.6 billion.
The minister stressed the need to turn this amount into a concrete portfolio of prepared projects with defined timelines for approval, fund allocation and implementation. He also noted $475 million in financing for the M-6 Sukkur–Hyderabad motorway and the approval of $100 million for the fifth phase of the polio eradication programme. Pakistan requested broader support for ML-1 and coordination among the Islamic Development Bank, the ADB and other co-financiers.
