INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KhattakPESHAWAR: Failing to complete a major infrastructure project on time, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in
a panic mode and has sacked the chief of Peshawar BRT company blaming him for the delay.Talking to reporters here Sunday, Chief Minister KP
Pervez Khattak defended the decision of sacking the CEO of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit for failing to meet the deadline saying the concerned
official ignored repeated reminders by the provincial authorities.Although, the delay had pushed the completion date for two months but it
would still be a record to complete such a mega project in eight months, said the CM.The CEO deliberately delay the procurement of buses, he
the system started falling like a house of cards as chairman of its Board of Directors (BoD) and two other important officers of the company
have quit apparently in protest against the removal of the chief executive officer (CEO).The step by the officers leaving the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mobility Authority (KPUMA) and its subsidiary, TransPeshawar Company (TPC), assigned to maintain and operate the BRT
before the expiry of his tenure that ends on May 28.The provincial government removed the CEO of the TransPeshawar, Altaf Akbar Durrani, on
May 2 after he refused to procure busses for the BRT as per schedule desired by the chief minister, and that too at a time when the corridor
of the project has not been completed.His removal was approved by the provincial cabinet at its meeting on April 19, after the chief
TransPeshawar BoD, Javed Iqbal, who according to the sources, had already conveyed to the sacked CEO that he would also resign if the
government went with its plan to remove him (CEO), tendered his resignation the next day (May 3).Similarly, following in the footprints of
the BoD chairman, two key officers, Chief Finance Officer Safdar Sher Awan and General Manager Operations and Market Development Mohammad
chairman BoD, CFO and GM Operations left the Company without its top management that would not only delay procurement of the buses, but also
hamper timely completion of some other formalities of the project.The provincial government wanted to inaugurate the BRT on May 20, for
which it sought immediate procurement of the buses.However, the ousted CEO informed the chief minister about the legal and manufacturing
formalities and testing process of the prototype before mass production of the buses that would have to take about a month
This frustrated the chief minister who perused his cabinet to approve removal of the CEO.In the meanwhile, the provincial government
continued with its plan to launch the BRT during the last 20 days of its tenure and adopted another way to arrange buses for the project.
