PML-N MPA Sobia Shahid says people running govt took kickbacks; Tarakai says accusation popularity gimmick. PHOTO: FILE
Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz’s Sobia Shahid accused the people at the helm of affairs of the provincial government of taking a kickback of Rs1.5 billion in Peshawar’s BRT project.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers stood up in protest calling the allegations a publicity gimmick.
However, Shahid along with PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai staged protest in front of the speaker’s dais while the treasury lawmakers kept shouting that corruption allegations were a bundle of lies.
Shahid said the money embezzled from the project was syphoned off to finance the general elections.
Local Government Minister Shahram Tarakai termed the accusation an attempt to get attention.
He said that the project cost had increased to Rs66.43 billion from the previous Rs49.34 billion, increasing the debt by Rs12 billion and the provincial government share by Rs6 billion.
Members of the opposition also said that inauguration of the project on 23 March was not possible while the departmental reply given to the assembly was also misleading. Leader of Opposition Akram Durrani alleged that the government has committed corruption in BRT and Billion Tree Tsunami projects.
He said that the government had admitted to have increased the estimated cost of BRT by Rs28 billion. The project was controversial from the beginning which was why it was opposed in the cabinet meetings.
The leader of the opposition said a parliamentary committee should be made to probe into the operations and costs of the two projects. “The PTI government was paying the BRT contractors in dollars rather than Pakistani rupee.”
Refuting the allegations, Tarakai said that Peshawar BRT is the most important development project in the history of Peshawar which is why its cost was increased to Rs66 billion instead of Rs100 billion while the payment made to the contractors was in Pakistani rupee rather than dollars.
He said that out of the 220 buses for the project, 20 had already arrived in Peshawar while the remaining fleet of vehicles will arrive soon. The local government minister further said that projects like BRT tend to get completed in a year-and-a-half but the former chief minister Pervez Khattak wanted it to complete within six months so that the facility was available for the benefit of citizens.
He said that BRT was not about a single road but a comprehensive project which was why there was some debate in the last cabinet session. However, everyone is on the same page regarding the project and the opposition should desist from politicising on the issue.
The local government minister said that the design and all other aspects of all projects including BRT were the responsibility of the departments concerned and their engineers. Any fault in design was also the responsibility of the provincial departments in charge of the project, he said, adding that the government did not want to conceal anything regarding the project and a parliamentary committee may be formed to hold an inquiry. He termed the accusation of kickbacks and commission as a way to drive attention, saying that the government will under no circumstance would accept the allegations and disrespect.
K-P Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan said the PTI government was willing to present details of the project before a parliamentary committee.
The speaker expunged the controversial remarks made during the session.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2019.
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