No deadline for Peshawar BRT project so far

PESHAWAR: The flagship project of the PTI in Khyber Pahktunkhwa, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project, will not be completed before December 2019. However, after missing almost five deadlines, the provincial government is reluctant to announce any further date for the completion of the mega project.

Despite the chief minister’s directives, it seems the project will take several months to be operational. Peshawar Development Authority sources confirmed that 15 per cent work on bus stations is pending while the building for Intelligence Ticketing System control room will be completed in the end of October. It will take further two months to establish ITS control system. Civil work of three buildings will also take few months.

Meanwhile, the contractor has slowed down the construction work due to nonpayment of dues since November, which will further delay the project and enhance the cost. The director general Peshawar Development Authority has confirmed that payment and variation order issues were pending since long but soon after he took over the charge, he resolved both of them and the work will speed up within few days and will be completed on fast track.

The BRT project was started in October 2017 by the then chief minister Pervaiz Khattak and he had announced completing this mega project within 6 months but he could not complete it during his tenure. After general elections, two more deadlines were given but the project has not been accomplished until now. On March 23, 2019, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan refused to inaugurate the incomplete project but Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai carried out a test run of BRT route along with media. The project was further delayed when Secretary Transport Kamran Rehman and DG PDA Israrul Haq were transferred.

The BRT project contractor has refused to achieve the targets of remaining work due to financial constraints and undue loss being caused on variation orders. A letter sent by the contractor (CR21G MAQBOOL CALSONS JV) on April 4, a copy of which is available with The News, stated that the target remained unachievable due to delay in drawings, shifting of utilities, non-fixation of rates of extra items, biased determination of rates and non-payment of pending bills. We have no option but to slow the progress under protest and shall keep it slow till payments are released.

According to documents, the contractor’s two bills amounting to Rs 869,939,136 are withheld since November last year and three bills of Rs 2,446,829,002 are pending since March 6, 2019. Sources told this scribe that the contractor has serious reservations on low rates of different variation orders which will cause him heavy financial losses, but they have signed it to complete the formalities of ADB to release the outstanding amount.

The spokesman of Trans Peshawar, Noman, told this scribe that the ITS control room and system will be installed after completion of civil work according to specifications and requirements. The staging facility at Dabgari and Hayatabad are still not ready to park busses. “We have a total of 220 busses for the main corridor and feeder routes. Twelve-meter 50 busses have already reached Peshawar while another 20 busses of 18 meter for the main corridor are on its way from Karachi to Peshawar. Another 57 buses will be coming in early June. We don’t have enough space to park them and ensure safety of busses,” Noman said.

Newly-posted Director General PDA Engr Muhammad Uzair told The News that the BRT route has already been completed while 15 per cent civil work on stations is pending. He didn’t give any deadline but said the ITS control room at Chamkani will hopefully be handed over to the Trans Peshawar in October and they need at least two months to install their system. The staging facility at Dabgari and Hayatabad will also be available at the end of this year because work on both sites was started late. He said issues related to payment and variation orders were pending since long but soon after he took over the charge, he resolved both of them and the work will speed up within few days and will be completed on fast track. “We are working under the guidelines of the ADB which have raised certain objections on stations during their visit in March 2019. In compliance with the ADB observations, we have started corrective measures and station 1 has been completed according to their instructions. After their approval of station 1, we will start the rectification work on other stations,” he added.