Why Pakistan refuses ADB loan for Railway ?

Pakistan has refused part financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the $8 billion Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line (ML-1) after China said it wanted to fund the project single-handedly. `China strongly argued that two sourced financing would create problems and the project would suffer, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has revealed. The minister said he would not comment whether the Ministry of Railways has resisted the Chinese request for fears of monopoly, but said the entire financing would now come from China. The project was originally planned to be partly funded by the Manila-based ADB. He said ADB would be accommodated in some other projects, such as those under the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation programme. Under the original plan, ADB had to provide $3.5bn for the 1,700-kilometre-long line considered the backbone of the country`s logistics connecting two major ports with the rest of the country for transporting goods and passengers. The minister said Chinese government therefore wanted that the project financing should be kept single-sourced. Pakistan and China are expected to sign a formal agreement in this regard next month. Iqbal said the Planning Commission was making efforts to maximise allocation of funds for the next year`s development programme as it would be the final year of the current government. Therefore, the government would like to complete maximum number of projects during this period so as to support the growth momentum. He said it was also important to have larger development portfolio for the next year because it would trigger activity in the construction industry on which a number of other growth oriented industries were dependent because of its potential to create jobs.