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Thursday March 28, 2024

KP govt fails to complete BRT project in its tenure

By Israr Khan
May 16, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has failed to complete the multi-billion rupees Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in its stipulated time of six months and has now extended its completion deadline for the third time to eight months.

KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak while talking to media persons here Tuesday announced that the construction work on the project would be completed in June, instead of May.

“The construction work of the project will be completed in June and God knows who will inaugurate the BRT project, the current government or the caretaker,” Pervez Khattak said while replying to a question by media persons.

He said that earlier it was planned that the project will be completed in six months, but now the construction work will be completed in eight months. The project completion deadline was extended to May 20 after it wasn’t completed before its first deadline of April 20. However, now it has been extended to June, 2018. The incumbent provincial government is to complete its tenure by end May, 2018.

The KP government started work on this project on October 20, 2017, aiming that this provincial flagship project would be completed in six months. Its estimated cost was Rs49 billion. When the CM was asked that whether the PTI government in its five-year tenure had completed any mega project? Khattak replied that what other mega projects were completed by the previous governments during the past 70 years of the province’s history?

“We have started Swat Expressway project and I will be inaugurating the 50 kilometres section of the project on May 21,” he added. Regarding the construction of new roads, hospitals and schools, Khattak said that they got the infrastructure in dilapidated condition, there were schools, but there was no furniture and teachers, there were hospitals but no doctors and other equipment.

“We have refurbished schools, provided furniture, upgraded hospitals and hired doctors,” he said. “We have spent Rs35 billion on various projects and for developmental work I need trillions of rupees while our resources are limited,” he added.

When asked that Shaukat Khanum Hospital was completed in two years while the KP Children Hospital’s was lingering on for the last nine years, he said that the main issue is the availability of funds. He said that for Shaukat Khanum, they had money, while for other projects the government had shortage of funds. “Give me funds, I can complete the projects within months,” he added.