The top court of the country on Tuesday said that the bar on holding probe into alleged embezzlement in Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will continue till the court takes up the case after a month.
Taking up the case, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Umar Atta Badial observed that if there was no truth in the report that two buses cannot cross each other on Peshawar BRT route, the authorities concerned should have clarified that it was not correct.
The representative for the KP government said that there was no truth in the report that the mega project would be completed in Rs 100 billion, adding the total cost of the mega project would Rs 66.4 billion. To a question from Justice Bandial, he said that besides some changes in the design along with two kilometers increase in the track of the project, the cost has been increased by Rs 17 billion. He said that 85 percent funds of the project will be given by the Asian Development bank (ADB).
Justice Bandial said that the court will look in to the transparency, auditing and other matters of the projects, sometimes the country needed sacrifices, for which the transparency and fair play were needed the most. On February 03, the Supreme Court of Pakistan barred the FIA from holding probe into Peshawar's BRT project and summoned details of the undertaking from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government.
The provincial government's counsel had told the apex court that the project was started in 2018 and its design was changed several times. The lawyer maintained, "A plaintiff moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to stop development work of the BRT project in front of his house. However, the PHC issued a verdict, which the petitioner had not even requested for."
The top court had inquired about the initial cost of the project, adding what was the initial date of completion, and when it would be completed. The counsel for the provincial government said that the BRT project would be completed by July 31, 2020. Earlier, the Peshawar High Court had directed the FIA to investigate the mega project.
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