JI accuses Khattak of mishandling BRT project

Former coalition partner holds up project as proof of PTI’s incompetence

NOWSHEHRA: Just days after quitting the coalition government in the province after nearly five years, the Jamaat-e-Islami has decided to open ‘seven boxes’ of the ruling party’s corruption, starting with allegations over the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project being built in Peshawar.

In a news conference at the Nowshera press club, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameers’ Political Advisor Asif Luqman Qazi had stated that they will be disclosing mega cases of misappropriation which showcase Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s corruption and incompetence, adding the first case was of the metro system.

“Several stories of corruption and incompetence have emerged out of this box of BRT,” Qazi said, adding that they will gradually open the remaining “six boxes” to expose the financial misappropriations committed by the chief minister.

“BRT Peshawar has turned into a project of ruin for the people of the province due to political adventurism and self-centered policies of Khattak,” Qazi claimed, adding that a “Rs40 billion financial burden has been offloaded on the backs of poor masses of K-P to project a false image of the CM’s grandeur and benevolence.” He noted that the government had estimated that the project would cost around Rs49 billion to complete. But with the project only partially complete, the bill had thus far inflated to Rs70 billion.

“This is the same project which Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-Chair and Member of Parliament Asad Umar claimed they would complete in Rs9 billion,” the JI chief’s advisor said.

“Similar projects by the Punjab government in Lahore and Rawalpindi had been mockingly termed as ‘Jangla Bus’ by PTI Chairman Imran Khan,” he added.

“The people of K-P can rightfully ask about the compulsion to start this project if it was a ‘jungla bus’, and that too with just six months left before the K-P government’s tenure ends,” Qazi stated. He referred to a statement by PTI leader Asad Umar who had claimed that such a project could have been completed in just Rs9 billion.  The JI official also suggested that the BRT was ill-planned.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2018.