FIA submits report on BRT to PHC

PESHAWAR: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday submitted the probe report on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project to the Peshawar High Court, a source told The News.

A bench of the Peshawar High Court headed by Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth had in November, last year, directed the FIA authorities to probe the 35 BRT points. The court, in a judgment in different petitions, had directed the agency to complete the investigation in 45 days. The source said the FIA submitted the report in the office of the PHC registrar on Friday. The project was probed from all angles the top officials of the departments concerned, consultants and contractors questioned. A five-member inquiry team headed by Deputy Director Rizwan Shah was assigned the task to conduct the inquiry into the project. The FIA was directed by the court to look into various points including the total cost of 27.37 kilometers road project that was estimated at Rs 66.437 billion. With this estimate, the project costs Rs 2.427 billion per kilometer which is exorbitantly high. The agency on the directives of the court inquired as to why three project directors were changed and who decided to buy 220 buses when only 65 were being used in Punjab for a longer route.

Besides, the FIA also probed as to why the project could not be completed in the anticipated one-year period. One of the major flaws of the project, the construction of at-grade corridor on the University Road was also probed as it would increase traffic congestion instead of providing ease to the commuters.

The inquiry team was directed to probe as to how many senior officers were paid hefty allowances even though they had no managerial role in the BRT. Arshad Aziz Malik adds: The Supreme Court has fixed Feb 3 for the hearing of the KP government and PDA petition challenging the PHC order of holding inquiry into BRT by FIA.