Peshawar BRT completion likely to be delayed again: sources

PESHAWAR: Peshawar’s Bus-Rapid-Transit (BRT) line project is likely to miss its sixth deadline as the contractor has informed the government that the ongoing work could not be completed before March next year.

According to government sources, the flagship project of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is unlikely to be completed in December with work on only 16 stations being completed while 30 stations are still under construction.

Sources further said that the three bus depots made for Peshawar BRT were also under construction. “Even 10 per cent work has not been done on the Haytabad bus depot. No work has been done on the route from Hayatabad to Karkhano Market,” sources said.

Speaking to Geo News, Director General Peshawar Development Authority Engineer Mohammad Aziz said, “Work on BRT will be completed this year.”

“Under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreement, work on the BRT line is scheduled to be completed by June 2021,” he said, adding there will be a ramp and lift for special people.

“There will be park and ride facility available at all three BRT depots,” he added.

Earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided to approach ADB to conduct a forensic audit of the Peshawar BRT project.

The project has only managed to achieve six per cent of its development targets in the past six months.

The ADB will decide who is responsible for the repeated delays in the project and the low standard work that was carried out.

After the forensic audit is held by the bank, the government will take legal action against the responsible party.

KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told Geo News that a lot of work had been done on the project and it would be completed soon.

He said that a lot of noise had been made unnecessarily over the additional amount that had been added to the cost of the project.