PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday moved the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak over the prolonged delay in Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
The PPP’s KP chapter filed a reference with the anti-corruption watchdog as it sought to become a party to the inquiry into the BRT fiasco.
In a joint statement a day ago, PPP provincial president Muhammad Humayun Khan and general secretary Faisal Karim Kundi had demanded that the NAB file a corruption reference against Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak as he was the chief minister when construction of the multibillion BRT project was started.
The party workers said the BRT was an unnecessary burden on the national exchequer and its poor management and long delays were creating difficulties for the residents.
They further appealed to the Supreme Court to look into the BRT records and order the arrest of those involved in the anomalies.
The PPP leaders added that the party would take up the issue on all available forums if the NAB failed to take action.
A much-awaited inquiry report on the long-delayed BRT project released earlier this month highlighted a multitude of technical errors, faulty design and inept planning that caused heavy losses to the exchequer.
The BRT project, hailed as a “world-class transport service” aimed at generating “greater economic activity and prosperity in the city” on its official website, was launched by former chief minister Pervaiz Khattak during his tenure.
Construction on the project began in October 2017, but work on the fixed-rail continues to this day.
The BRT line is a 26-kilometre east-west corridor in the city, designed to move thousands of passengers per day. Of the total 31 bus stations, 11 are still incomplete. Work on the three bus depots, at Chamkani, Hayatabad and Dabgari, is unfinished. Over 200 buses were to reach Peshawar. So far, only 21 have arrived from China.
During all of this, the cost of the corridor has shot up from Rs49 billion to Rs66 billion.