Key Points
- Agreement to be signed next week to secure Reko Diq’s viability and rail logistics
- Accord integrates Gwadar port with mining exports and CPEC network
- Development seen as a turning point for Pakistan’s role in regional trade and resource transit
ISLAMABAD: Apparently, it is just another bridge financing agreement that the stakeholders are to sign in London on October 2. Officials view it as a breakthrough in Pakistan’s transformation into a regional transit hub, routing east-west and north-south rail links.
“It is not just a bridge financing agreement already approved by the ECC, it is a landmark for Pakistan’s railway connectivity across projects like Reko Diq, Gwadar Port and across corridors from CPEC to East-West railways,” officials privy to the developments confided to WE News.
According to the officials, all stakeholders, including the federal and provincial governments, the Reko Diq Mining Company, represented by the developer Barrick Gold, and international financial institutions, would be signatories to the agreement on bridge financing of $390 million for the 1,392 km Gwadar-Karachi railway trade.
The agreement would lock in arrangements for a syndicated loan under a Secured Overnight Financing Rate plus 250 basis points, to be repaid in a bullet payment at maturity.
Logistics support
Beyond financing, the officials noted that the arrangement guarantees logistics support for Reko Diq while simultaneously upgrading Pakistan Railways’ infrastructure and multidimensional connectivity.
The syndicate members would be allowed to run their own train facilities on the proposed line, as per the ECC approval.
Earlier officials familiar with the matter told Reuters the project has been designed to integrate Reko Diq’s output into Gwadar’s deep-sea port, effectively tying the mining venture into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In addition to enhancing the north–south spine of ML-1, the new link is being pitched as the first serious step toward an East-West railway Euroasia arc, connecting Pakistan with Iran, Afghanistan, and onward to Central Asia and Europe on the other end.
“Regional transit hub”
“This is about far more than one project. It’s about repositioning Pakistan as a regional transit hub at the crossroads of South and Central Asia,” a senior federal official involved in the deliberations told Dawn, stressing that the agreement will give investors confidence in the long-term viability of Pakistan’s resource and transport sectors.
Analysts say the connectivity plan could open up export avenues not just for copper and gold but also for other commodities. At the same time, Gwadar’s linkage with inland mineral deposits will strengthen Pakistan’s leverage in Belt and Road trade routes. “If executed as outlined, this railway upgrade could be Pakistan’s entry ticket into regional supply chains,” a trade expert told The News.
What began as a bid to finance Reko Diq has now evolved into a framework that serves mining security, port connectivity, CPEC integration, and transborder railway diplomacy in one stroke.
