NAB to probe ‘shady, shaky’ Peshawar rapid bus project

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to conduct an inquiry into the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the flagship project of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government.

“The delay, contract awarding process, feasibility and all the issues relating to the project of BRT are all shady and shaky. And as such, the NAB authorities are directed to conduct proper investigation/inquiry regarding transparency of the project and submit its report before September 5,” a division bench comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali passed the order in a writ petition filed by Amanullah Haqqani, a former provincial minister belonging to Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s JUI-F.

The bench in its three-page order sheet stated that, “after hearing arguments at length, we feel it appropriate to refer the matter to the NAB authorities for conducting proper investigation due to the fact that 50 percent scope of work has been enhanced and last date for completion of the project was June 24, 2018.”

Initially, the court stated that Rs49.3 billion was approved and at present the revised PC-1 has been processed for approval with a total cost of Rs67.9 billion.

“We have been informed that the contract has been given to a firm, which was blacklisted in same type of work by another province under mala fide intention. We have also been informed that from different necessary project schemes the amount has been collected for this project without considering the fact that the other projects were also necessary and important for public purpose,” the court questioned in the order sheet.

The bench also relieved Director General of Peshawar Development Authority Israrul Haq as project director of BRT and also withdrew the high court’s earlier order issued on April 24 in which the court stated that he would continue as project director till completion of the project.

After withdrawal of the court order, Israrul Haq is no more Director General of PDA as the court stated that prior to the high court order on April 24, the Auditor General of Pakistan had repatriated its employee Israrul Haq from the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the parent department and further posted him as Director Finance and Budget at the Ministry of Railways.

However, the bench in the order stated that anyone from the provincial cadre, or for that matter from the PDA, could be appointed the project director for BRT.

On the other hand, an official of the PDA said that the contract had been awarded to the contractors shortlisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) after fulfilment of all legal and codal formalities.

He said the contractors are the founders of such projects in Pakistan.

He said the Lahore High Court (LHC) had declared null and void the Lahore Development Authority’s decision to blacklist these firms.

He pointed out that the Peshawar High Court in its earlier decision had declared the PC-1 of the project as valid.

On January 4, 2018, the PDA informed the NAB KP through a letter regarding changes in PC-1 of the BRT project. A copy of the letter had also been forwarded to the NAB chairman.

“The overall scope of BRT project is properly planned and articulated; however, for the reasons to be recorded, the variations (changes) will keep on occurring in the project on need basis in the best public interest purely on technical grounds as per the site requirements till its completion,” stated a letter issued by the deputy director coordination (BRT) to Mian Muhammad Waqar, additional director NAB KP.

The PDA had also mentioned in the letter the major variations in the project. These included addition of one pedestrian underpass near Pir Zakori flyover on GT Road, inclusion of level-II Pir Zakori flyover to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the GT-Ring Road junction, replacement of two elevated U-turns on GT Road by 1km elevated corridor, replacement of Firdaus underpass by elevated corridor, reduction and increase in piles’ depth due to unpredictable behaviour of underground strata, replacement of underpass at airport-Sir Syed Road T-Junction by elevated corridor, deletion of one underpass on University Road due to space constraints, inclusion of 6 x HDPE conduits, 3 on each side of the BRT corridor, change in design of drain in Reach-III and deletion of one bus station in Reach-II.

In order to probe the alleged corruption and delay in completion of the BRT project, the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also started an inquiry in the matter.

The NAB KP followed the order of NAB chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal, to conduct an inquiry into alleged corruption and delay in completion of the BRT project.

Meanwhile, NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forwarded the matter of an inquiry into alleged irregularities in expenses of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad to the NAB Headquarters, sources informed Geo News Thursday.

The caretaker provincial government had written a letter to the NAB KP, seeking an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities in expenses of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad.

The letter was forwarded to the NAB KP by the provincial administration department on July 10.

The sources said the NAB KP does not have the authority to investigate the matter and hence it has forwarded the provincial government’s letter to its headquarters.

The anti-graft body has yet to authorise an officer or its regional or provincial office to investigate matter.

Geo News’ senior analyst and anchorperson Saleem Safi, during his show ‘Jirgah’ on July 8, revealed that the tea offered to him and his team at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House had cost around Rs175,000. The anchorperson had also shown documents pertaining to the bills.