Less than a week ago, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had thundered against the senior leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), accusing Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharif brothers of looting public wealth.The PM had warned them that there would soon be a reckoning for the money they had allegedly looted from Pakistan over the years. However, after winning the General Elections back in July 2018, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had vowed that he would initiate accountability from within his own party, saying that the accountability process would begin with him and after that, it would be his own ministers who would be made to answer for any ill-gotten wealth or misuse of public funds.
Taking these statements into account, it seems clear that the Prime Minister owes the country an explanation regarding the misuse of public money on the multi-billion Rupees Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar. A Provincial Inspection Team recently released a 27-page long report on the project. It detailed poor planning, frequent design changes and poor construction quality that have resulted in the project costing far more and consuming more time than it should have. Furthermore, the project has also disrupted the flow of traffic around it, creating further problems for the people of Peshawar.
Construction work on the project begun in October 2017 during the PTI’s previous provincial tenure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, most likely as a political response to the PML-N’s many infrastructure projects in Lahore. According to the original schedule, the BRT should have been completed in six months. However, it remains incomplete to this day after multiple delays.
For a government that is so hell-bent on accountability and responsible spending, it is appalling that things were allowed to get this bad. So far, all that the PTI government has done is remove the provincial transport secretary and the Director General of Peshawar Development Authority. However, the National Accountability Bureau’s preliminary findings on the project have been sealed until its completion. Perhaps once the NAB findings are made public, more heads will need to roll.
The BRT project will likely haunt the PTI for the rest of the party’s tenure. There are many lessons for the party to learn here. The greatest one perhaps is that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. *