Inauguration of BRT project still anybody’s guess

PESHAWAR: The inauguration of the so-called flagship project of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government – Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) - is still anybody’s guess after almost two and half years of its launch as the authorities concerned are not ready to divulge the exact date.

The government had set July 2018 as the deadline for its completion when the project was launched in October 2017 despite the fact that PC-I had mentioned April 2021 as the deadline for its completion. The original cost of the project was Rs 49 billion.

After the first deadline was missed, the government set three more deadlines in 2018 and another in 2019. Former Minister Shaukat Yousafzai claimed in February that BRT project would start operations in April this year. Some media reports claimed that July 1, 2020 was set as final deadline which was also missed.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Local Government Kamran Bangash did not respond when called for his comments on the issue.

Peshawar Development Authority Director General Syed Zafar Ali Shah said that he could not provide details about the launch date as the BRT operational issues were not the responsibilities of the PDA, which is an executing agency.

When asked about the protest camp set up outside the Peshawar Press Club by people who claims that they were working on security duties on various sites of the BRT, he said he was aware of the issue and had called the contractor to sort out the issue.

Syed Zafar Al Shah said that although these security staff were the employees of the contractor and the PDA was not responsible for their affairs, he would take up the issue as they had performed duties in our project.

The protesting workers claimed that their contracts were terminated and the contractor withheld their five months’ salaries. The protesters also claimed that the contractors had hired other personnel for security jobs on double salaries.

About the cost of the project PDA chief said the cost had not exceeded Rs 66 billion, adding that Rs 3.5billion more would be spent on finishing, establishing two depots, one in Hayatabad and another in Dabgari, and beautification of the areas affected by the project.

He said most of these expenses would be off corridor and would not be considered as the project cost.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) in December 2017 had ruled that the BRT was in accordance with the law. However, in a detailed judgement, it ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe the Project.

The provincial government and PDA filed a civil petition for leave to appeal in the apex court requesting to set aside the court order. A bench of the apex court headed by then Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar suspended the high court order.

Another high court bench had directed the FIA in November 2019 to probe the project. However, the Supreme Court stopped the Federal Investigation Agency from probing alleged irregularities in the project.