Situationer
Tariq Saeed
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has eventually announced to complete the much trumpeted yet much criticized Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) mega project by the end of the year 2019. A deadline we hope is going to be a final one at least this time. Also the government has admitted the unnecessary delay in the BRT that has earned great public resentment and sharp criticism both from the experts as well as the opposition parties that have even leveled serious corruption charges and kickbacks in the over seventy billion project
The new date for the completion of Peshawar’s Bus Rapid Transit project was given by the KP information minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Tuesday who said the provincial government admitted its mistake for making another delay in the functionalization of BRT project. “The project will be completed by the end of 2019” said Shaukat Yousafzai adding the provincial government has made mistake by making the announcement for the completion of BRT project within six months.
It may be recalled that the BRT which cost has swelled to over 70 billion rupees from 40 billion has been subjected to sharp criticism both from the masses , opposition parties as well as the experts besides the business community over “ faulty design, ill planning and ill timing that has led to unnecessary delay besides charges of huge kickbacks which the government rubbished every time. While the Prime Minister Imran Khan had also taken serious notice of the delay in the completion of the first mega project of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa initiated by the previous government of PTI led by Pervez Khattak , the incumbent Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had directed on May 12 to work day and night for completion of the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit project.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed for early completion of the BRT project. Work should be done in double shifts for timely completion of the project. Issues including payments of contractors should also be resolved”, Mahmood Khan said while presiding over a meeting with the BRT project contractors. However the chief minister had also declared that no compromise will be made on quality and timely completion of the BRT project.
It is worth mentioning that the PTI previous KP government led by the sitting Defense Minister Pervez Khattak as well as the present government headed by Mehmood Khan have given many dates for the completion of the BRT project that could not be materialized forcing the administration to stop giving deadlines for the completion of the project.
While the KP government has at last pledged to finish the project within three months’ time, let’s hope the deadline is final as the Peshawarites, both commuters and the business community who have suffered a lot, would take a big sigh of relief over the completion of the project.
