PHC seeks KP govt’s reply in petition against BRT

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday sought comments from the provincial government in a writ petition seeking an order to declare the provincial government's Bus Rapid Transit project as illegal.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ijaz Anwar put on notice the respondents including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through secretary Transport and Mass Transit Department, project director Bus Rapid Transit, chairman Provincial Development Working Party and principal secretary to the prime minister on Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec).

The court asked Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan to ensure submission of comments from the respondents before November 2, the date for next hearing in the case. However, the bench also directed counsel for the petitioner to assist the court regarding the maintainability of the present petition and in particular what provision of law has been violated by the respondents in the entering BRT project.

The bench was hearing the writ petition filed by former provincial minister Maulana Amanullah Haqqani and Peshawar resident Wali Khan, claiming that the initiative was illegal as the procedural formalities provided in the law were not fulfilled for its execution.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the respondents, including the KP government, to disclose all documentary information to the court and petitioner about the project, including the loan agreement signed with the Asian Development Bank. "Tell me under what provisions of law the BRT is illegal," the chief justice questioned the lawyer of the petitioner during the hearing.

To the lawyer's request to direct the respondents to submit documents of the project in the court, the chief justice said that there is a law of Right to Information (RTI) and the petitioner can get these documents under that law.

However, the petitioner's lawyer informed that his client had first applied for acquiring these documents on August 31 under the RTI law, but the information had not been provided so far.

He also submitted a copy of the Loan Agreement of the BRT project and pointed out that the provincial government had claimed to complete the project within 6 months, while as per the agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project would be completed on June 30, 2021.

The petitioners stated that the BRT project would cost Rs57 billion, which was a loan obtained from the ADB and to be disbursed by the ADB in three years. They said there were a number of legal and technical flaws, due to which that project was bound to fail and it would burden the people of the province with loans unnecessarily.

The petitioners claimed that no feasibility report was prepared, which was the very basic of any developmental project. They said the pre-feasibility public sharing report on the project was lacking.

The petitioners said the project's "draft design" had never been prepared though it was the very basis of a final design and that in its absence, the final design had been made. The petitioners said the Lahore metro bus service covered 27km area and with the help of 70 buses, but in Peshawar, whose population was much lesser than that of Lahore, 300 or 450 buses would be plied under the BRT project.

They said the Punjab government was bearing around Rs1.8 billion subsidy for 70 metro buses annually but in Peshawar, the government claimed that no subsidy would be given for the BRT project.

The petitioners alleged that for knowing the status of the flaws and any move for their removal by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, an application under the Right to Information Act 2013, was made to the transport and mass transit secretary on August 31 but the information had not been offered so far.

The petitioners feared that the start of work on the project in one go right from Hayatabad to Chamkani area would bring the entire Peshawar city to a standstill as there were no alternate routes to the misery of the local residents.