Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to inaugurate Peshawar’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) mass transit project on August 13.
As per the sources, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan is likely to announce the inauguration of BRT project after a final meeting with PM Imran Khan today.
The development comes as Peshawar’s BRT project – the flagship project of PTI’s provincial government has faced multiple delays resulting in exponential increase in project cost.
The project was launched back in October 2017 to be completed within six months and with a project cost of Rs 49 billion.
However, it surpassed six deadlines with project cost escalated to over Rs70 billion.
BRT project spans over 27.5 kilometers with additional 62 kilometers of feeder routes. It comprises of 31 stations and 146 stops.
According to Fayyaz Khan – CEO Trans Peshawar company, a total of 220 buses have been imported, of which 92 will be used on the primary route, whereas 128 will cater seven feeder routes.
Meanwhile, the government has already sold 60,000 travelling cards for the BRT project which is expected to cater around 300,000 passengers on a daily basis.
The project has been marred by allegations of mismanagement and financial embezzlement, whereas it has also experience significant design flaws over the years.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) had directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the reasons behind project cost increase and possible financial embezzlement in Peshawar BRT project.
Meanwhile, KP government had challenged the PHC decision in Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC). The top court had formed a three-member bench and issued a stay order against Peshawar High Court verdict.
