PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has given another deadline to the contractors to complete the remaining work on the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) till December.
According to details, the contractor has to complete the construction of three corridors and three bus depots. The provincial government has increased the estimated cost of BRT by Rs510 million to Rs66.95 billion in revised PC-1.
According to sources, KP’s largest project with the initial deadline of six months has not been completed despite the passage of several years, due to which the cost of the project has increased.
The government has repeatedly extended dates to complete the project. Because of delay in project completion, the opposition political parties in KP Assembly have called for a transparent investigation into the project.
Sources said that due to bus operation on the BRT corridor, the general public believe that the project has been completed but in reality, there is still a lot of work to complete the project.
The KP government hired another contractor to complete the construction of the BRT and then the contractor hired separate contractors for each portion of the project. The government has issued five new NOCs to date but still the contractors have not completed the parking plaza in Dabgari area of the city.
The KP Local Government Department sources said that construction work resumed from June 20 and the remaining work on Reach One and Reach Two has been given a deadline of November 17 while the Hayatabad Bus Depot, Chamkani Bus Depot and in Dabgri parking plaza has been given the deadline of December 17.
Out of the total 20 components of the project, 11 are expected to cost more than the estimated cost while five will be completed at lower costs that estimated. The project will cost a total of Rs516 million more than the allocated amount. Rs1.55 billion for consultant supervision, Rs875 million for purchase of buses, Rs633 million for construction of Chamkani Bus Depot, Park and Ride and Trans Peshawar office, Rs410 million for construction of road from bus stop number one to eight. Rs376 million on construction of road from Bus Stop No19 to 31, Rs110 million for social settlement, Rs100 million for project implementation, Rs75 million for relocation of goods, Rs.60 million for individual consultant, Rs50 million for purchase of land for depot and Rs7 million will be spend on advertisements.
Similarly, Rs1.55 billion was provided for the construction of a road from Bus Stop No 9 to 18, Rs1.41 billion for purchase of intelligent transport system, Rs381 million for flat scrap, provision of bus stop facilities besides corridor, Rs320 million will be spent on providing facilities to BRT staff while Rs68 million will be spent on the environmental impact assessment of the project.
Sources said that the estimated cost of the Peshawar BRT project was initially at Rs49.34 billion and has now increased to Rs66.43 billion whereas after the second revision, the total cost will reach Rs66.95 billion.
