Opposition accuses previous PTI govt of corruption in BRT project

PESHAWAR: Opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Friday blamed the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government for taking a commission of Rs1.5 billion in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and told the House that this money was allegedly used in the general election to change the loyalties of other party workers.

During Question Hour, MPA Sobia Shahid claimed that the BRT feasibility report is totally wrong and its design was changed repeatedly. She said that the entire project is full of anomalies and mistakes, adding that the government had given six-month completion time for the project, but it could not complete in one and a half year.

She said that when the project was launched, the contractor did not know about the position and location of gas and electricity lines inside the roads which is why it caused heavy damage to system worth billions of rupees.

Opposition Leader Akram Khan Durrani said that additionally Rs28 billion were spent on BRT Peshawar and they wanted complete scrutiny of the project as someone had informed them that the contractors had been paid in dollars.

Responding to the opposition’s claims, provincial minister Shahram Khan Taraki said that the total cost of the BRT project is Rs66 billion and there are rumours that the project reached the cost of Rs100 billion. He said that the project was supervised by the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) and would be handed over to the transport department after completion. He said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has already investigated this project and no corruption was proved during the course of the investigation.

He said that mega projects like this always take time of one and a half year and it was the wish of then CM Pervez Khattak to complete the project as soon as possible. He said that the drainage system and gas pipelines were also renovated which caused the project to take such a long time.

Provincial Law Minister Sultan Mohammad Khan said that there was nothing to hide in the BRT project and all facts would be handed over to parliamentary investigation committee for tracing out any anomalies in the project.

The speaker then sought names of the opposition members for the parliamentary committee, but instead of giving any names, the opposition members protested and chanted slogans against the PTI government.