Audit report exposes irregularities in Peshawar BRT project

An audit report by the auditor general on the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has been submitted to the provincial assembly. 

According to the auditor general’s report, irregularities of over Rs2.77 billion have been found in the Peshawar BRT project. A change in the design of the BRT project increased the cost of the mega project by Rs17 billion, from the original Rs49 billion to Rs66 billion. 

The report says that several senior officers, including the additional chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, received Rs17.7 million in additional salaries. As many as Rs1.7 million from the funds reserved for the BRT project were spent on pink buses in Mardan and Abbottabad. Also, Rs54.8 million were not collected from the contractors who were sold material of the demolished structures. 

According to the audit report, 51 buses were imported from China even before completion of the project just to show to people. The report says that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will have to give a subsidy of Rs1.6 billion to Rs2.5 billion to run the project. The report also says that 143 employees of PC-1 and several other people were given benefits at the cost of the project.