Pakistani PM inaugurates BRT rapid bus service in Peshawar

Pakistan Prime Minister unveils the inaugural plaque of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Peshawar on Aug. 13, 2020. (PID)

• Launched in 2017, the project had to be completed in six months but missed several deadlines
• Opposition figures say all corruption allegations surrounding the project must be probed

PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday inaugurated Peshawar’s long-awaited Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, calling it the best metro bus service available in Pakistan. 
“I had serious reservations about the project initially,” he said, “but it is one of the best models of transportation system in the country. I congratulate you all and [former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province] Pervez Khattak who used to say we would realize the significance of the project after its completion.”
Launched in October 2017 at an estimated cost of Rs. 49 billion, the 27-kilometer-long BRT corridor had to be completed within a span of six months. However, the project got delayed and missed at least four deadlines in 2018 and 2019.
Addressing the media in Peshawar on Wednesday, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan acknowledged that the earlier inauguration dates announced by his predecessor were mistakes.
However, Alamgir Bangash, who works with the government-owned TransPeshawar Company, told Arab News that the project got delayed since its design had to undergo some changes which also increased its cost to a staggering Rs. 66 billion.
Praising the project, the prime minister said that it connected the city’s main arteries and went as far away as the Torkham border that separates the Afghan and Pakistani territories.
The introduction of hybrid diesel buses, he continued, would effectively tackle the traffic congestion and reduce air pollution in Peshawar.
The TransPeshawar Company has already acquired a fleet of 200 hybrid air-conditioned buses to cover the BRT corridor, Bangash informed.
“We are still doing some infrastructure and beautification work on three stations,” he said. “But this will not hamper the service that has started today.”
The political rivals of the ruling party criticized the BRT, however, and claimed that it was not a viable project for Peshawar.
“The BRT project was flawed from the outset and it was also surrounded by corruption allegations,” said Sardar Hussain Babak, a senior leader of the Awami National Party, while talking to Arab News. “Even now we don’t know if the project has been completed or it is a premature inauguration.”
“I suggest the PTI must probe the corruption allegations related to this if it is truly striving to uproot financial irregularities from the country,” he added.