LAHORE: The federal government has decided to hire an experienced professional from the private sector to head Pakistan Railways (PR) as its chief executive officer (CEO) or senior general manager.

However, while official sources say that under railway laws no individual from the private sector could be hired for the top slot, the government believes it wouldn’t need to amend the rules after a green signal by the cabinet’s institutional reforms committee. The sources also call this first-of-its-kind decision by the department a futile exercise considering similar arrangements undertaken for PR’s other departments, including the Freight Transportation Company (PRFTC).

“The office of the prime minister, in view of the institutional reforms cell’s suggestions, wants the PR’s new CEO to come from the private sector. The railways then moved a summary to the PM Office for a final approval after the retirement of Nisar Memon last week,” a senior official told Dawn on Friday.

“A couple of days ago, the PM Office sent back a summary to the railways ministry with some queries related to the tenure and terms of references. The ministry then resent an updated summary for approval,” the official, requesting anonymity, maintained.

Recently, the railways faced a major setback after its Freight Transportation Company CEO Jawaid Siddiqi, who had taken charge in July last year, resigned from the office.

Official sources told Dawn that Mr Siddiqi — a professional from the private sector — resigned after he found himself unfit for the job due to the “typical slow-paced work environment” in the PR. Another official source in the department told Dawn that if the government wanted to hire a CEO from the private sector it would have to replace all senior and junior officers also who enjoy any powers, authority and obligations under the law.

“Unfortunately, the PR has had a bitter experience of hiring people from the private sector on important positions, such as in its subsidiaries Railcop, Paracs, PRFTC. The department couldn’t progress as the private officers’ working pace could not match the PR’s own workers,” the official explained. “Professionals from the private sector took swift decisions, while those representing the PR don’t owing to various legal obligations. Thus, this arrangement doesn’t suit the department or can be called an unnatural alliance.”

When asked how to improve the PR’s performance in such a situation, the officer suggested removal of all railway officers and their replacement with those from the private sector and then appointment of a thorough professional from the sector to lead the department or choosing an efficient senior officer from the PR’s own management and giving him adequate resources. Besides all of this, an effective monitoring system must be devised and the decades-old laws, rules and regulations amended.

“Moreover, the laws for appointment of a CEO and other officers should also be amended. Under the current laws, a CEO can only be appointed from the PR’s three departments of traffic, mechanical and civil,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2022