Peshawar BRT project is illegal, claims JUI-F

PHC issues notices to K-P govt to file response

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa government to file its response to a petition filed by a member of the opposition JUI-F, challenging the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the city.

A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ijaz Anwar was hearing a writ petition filed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Amanullah Haqqani and a Peshawar resident Wali Khan. They had filed the petition through senior lawyer Mohammad Isa Khalil.



Haqqani, who had at one point served as a provincial minister, has urged the court to declare the project as ‘illegal’, without lawful authority and of no legal effect.

The court, which held its first hearing of the petition on Thursday, directed the petitioners to explain at the next hearing how the construction of the project was ‘illegal’.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had inaugurated construction on the multi-billion-rupee project — being funded by loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

However, a few days later, it was challenged by the JUI-F — an arch rival of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Maulana Haqqani and Wali had named the K-P government, through the Transport and Mass Transit Secretary, BRT Project Management Unit project director, Provincial Development Working Party chairman, Central Development Working Party through the planning secretary, and the Executive Committee of National Economic Council through the principal secretary to the prime minister.

The petitioner argued that the government was taking Rs57 billion in loans from the ADB to fund the project and that the government has returned the money within three years — a move which will be a huge burden on the K-P exchequer and people of the province.

“Besides this, it will also result in a massive traffic mess in the city since no pre-project traffic plan was devised,” the petitioners argued.

“It will be a huge burden on the next provincial government since few months are left in the tenure of the incumbent government of PTI,” said Maulana Haqqani.



“Legally and logically, the PTI-led government is not allowed to launch such a mega project for such a large amount of loan which would have to be paid by the next provincial government,” he argued.

He predicted that the project will fail and will prove to be a burden on the weak economy of the province owing to the numerous technical and legal flaws.

“They have not even prepared a feasibility report, the fundamental requirement for any developmental project,” the petitioners claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2017.