Khattak justifies BRT CEO’s sacking

PESHAWAR: Shifting responsibility of delay in completion of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project towards Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the TransPeshawar, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Sunday said that the CEO was removed as he had deliberately delayed completion of the project.

Defending the decision of sacking the CEO for failing to meet the deadline, the chief minister said the official concerned ignored repeated reminders by the provincial authorities for procurement of the buses.

“The provincial government had time and again informed the CEO of the TransPeshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Authority), Altaf Akbar Durrani, about timely purchase of the BRT buses, but he intentionally delayed it,” Pervez Khattak said while talking to reporters at the concluding ceremony of the RMI Media Cricket League-2 at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium.

The chief minister said that now the buses for BRT would arrive in June.

Interestingly after delay in purchase of buses the PTI-led provincial government’s would not inaugurate the much-talked-about $71.30 million BRT project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the provincial assemblies are going to be dissolved on May 28-29.

On the other hand, the TransPeshawar, the company assigned to operate the BRT system is left without its top management that would not only delay in procurement of the buses, but also hinder timely completion of some other formalities of the project.

The provincial government removed the CEO of the TransPeshawar, Altaf Akbar Durrani, on May 2 after he refused to procure busses for the BRT as per schedule given by the government and created difficulties for the government to fulfill its commitment in completion of the project.

The CEO’s removal was approved by the provincial cabinet at its meeting on April 19 after the chief minister informed it about the impediments in the completion of his government’s lone mega project as per its timelines.

Chairman of the TransPeshawar BoD, Javed Iqbal, who according to the sources, had tendered his resignation on May 3 in protest.

Chief Finance Officer Safdar Shabir Awan and General Manager Operations and Market Development Mohammad Imran Khan tendered resignations in protest against the CEO’s removal.

Pervez Khattak said the structure of the BRT project would be completed at a cost of Rs29 billion, while in Lahore the structure of the same length was built at a cost of Rs32 billion.

He claimed the BRT project would not only be exemplary, but also have 250 extra buses. He said that Rs6 billion would be spent on purchase of the buses.

The chief minister said the provincial government would get profit for 10 years from the BRT as there was no subsidy from the government for it, while the Punjab government was running it on subsidy.

He said that about Rs8 billion would be spent on parking plazas with commercial packages. He said that there are also 50 kilometer extra roads in the BRT project. Pervez Khattak said the BRT project would be completed in record span of time.