PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has summoned nine officials from several departments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province to give their expert opinions on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Peshawar city, amid allegations of misappropriation. An investigation was ordered after the expected cost of the project soared from Rs49 billion to Rs68 billion
The companies involved in the project were shortlisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which recently declared the project “transparent.”
ADB external relations officer Ismail Khan said the bank had not received any complaints of corruption or mismanagement relating to the BRT project.
“The pre-feasibility and feasibility reports, engineering design and all changes and costs have been approved by the ADB," he said. "This is why, during a recent meeting in Islamabad, we declared the BRT project as transparent.”
The construction project is being managed by the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), he added. It was inaugurated on October 19, 2017, and work began on December 24. It is due to be completed by the end of October this year.
“Other such projects in the country have taken more than a year to complete but we are trying to complete Peshawar BRT within one year,” Khan added.
Expressing concern over ongoing NAB investigation, he said: “The inquiry is hampering work on the project because suppliers of raw materials such as sand, iron and others are apprehensive when they think it is being probed.”
He said the bank is cooperating with the bureau and hopes the watchdog will give a clean bill of health to the project.
Salma Begum, the NAB's deputy director in Peshawar, said that the bank's declaration of transparency would have no bearing on the investigation.
“Our inquiries are independent and investigations are underway,” she said. "The bureau has received the requisite documents from PDA and has also summoned nine experts from various departments to help with the inquiry.”
Noman Manzoor, a spokesman for TransPeshawar, which will operate the BRT system under construction by PDA, said that they already have one prototype bus and a total of 220 buses will be provided.
“TransPeshawar will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the BRT once it is operational," he added, reiterating that the PDA is solely responsible for construction work.
Rumurs of an investigation into the BRT project began after the last meeting of the former Khyber Pakhtunkwa cabinet, on May 24, during which it was announced that the expected cost had increased from Rs49 billion to Rs68 billion due to changes in its design and the adjustment of funds from the ADB.
On July 19, Peshawar High Court was petitioned by Amanullah Haqqani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur Rahman, to investigate the project. The court ordered the NAB to submit a report by September 5.
Bus Rapid Transit probe continues despite bank declaring project ‘transparent’
Bus Rapid Transit probe continues despite bank declaring project ‘transparent’
- The companies involved in the project were shortlisted by the Asian Development Bank, which recently declared the project “transparent”
- The National Accountability Bureau probe has raised concerns among suppliers of raw materials, hampering work on the project
North Korea accuses South of another drone incursion
- The North Korean military tracked a drone “moving northwards” over the South Korean border county of Ganghwa
- South Korea said it had no record of the flight
SEOUL: North Korea accused the South on Saturday of flying another spy drone over its territory this month, a claim that Seoul denied.
The North Korean military tracked a drone “moving northwards” over the South Korean border county of Ganghwa in early January before shooting it down near the North Korean city of Kaesong, a spokesperson said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Surveillance equipment was installed” on the drone and analysis of the wreckage showed it had stored footage of the North’s “important targets” including border areas, the spokesperson said.
Photos of the alleged drone released by KCNA showed the wreckage of a winged craft lying on the ground next to a collection of grey and blue components it said included cameras.
South Korea said it had no record of the flight, and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the drone in the photos was “not a model operated by our military.”
The office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said a national security meeting would be held on Saturday to discuss the matter.
Lee had ordered a “swift and rigorous investigation” by a joint military-police investigative team, his office said in a later statement.
On the possibility that civilians operated the drone, Lee said: “if true, it is a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and national security.”
Located northwest of Seoul, Ganghwa County is one of the closest South Korean territories to North Korea.
KCNA also released aerial images of Kaesong that it said were taken by the drone.
They were “clear evidence” that the aircraft had “intruded into (our) airspace for the purpose of surveillance and reconnaissance,” Pyongyang’s military spokesperson said.
They added that the incursion was similar to one in September when the South flew drones near its border city of Paju.
Seoul would be forced to “pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria” if such flights continued, the spokesperson said.
South Korea is already investigating alleged drone flights over the North in late 2024 ordered by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol. Seoul’s military has not confirmed those flights.
Prosecutors have indicted Yoon on charges that he acted illegally in ordering them, hoping to provoke a response from Pyongyang and use it as a pretext for his short-lived bid to impose martial law.
- Cheap, commercial drone -
Flight-path data showed the latest drone was flying in square patterns over Kaesong before it was shot down, KCNA said.
But experts said the cheap, commercially available model was unlikely to have come from Seoul’s armed forces.
“The South Korean military already has drones capable of transmitting high-resolution live feeds,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“Using an outdated drone that requires physical retrieval of a memory card, simply to film factory rooftops clearly visible on satellite imagery, does not hold up from a military planning perspective.”
