The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has dismissed the chief executive officer of TransPeshawar, the company in-charge of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, over charges of poor performance that led to delays in its inauguration.
A notification regarding Durrani’s removal has been issued.
Meanwhile, several high-profile officials in the management of the company have tendered their resignations in protest against Durrani’s dismissal.
These include the chairman of the TransPeshawar’s board of directors, Javed Iqbal, Chief Finance Officer Safdar Awan and General Manager (Operations and Market Development) Mohammad Imran Khan. Their resignations have left the company without its top management.
According to media reports on Saturday, KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak removed TransPeshawar CEO Altaf Akbar Zaidi from service after the latter refused to procure a bus fleet worth Rs5.5 billion. The CEO was reportedly asked to transport the buses by road from China. However, Durrani refused to comply, saying that it would increase the cost of a bus by at least $30,000, besides affecting warranty of the vehicles.
The CEO was reported to have informed the government that there was no depot for the hundreds of buses and the infrastructure was also not yet ready for the operation of the vehicles.
Earlier, Durrani had been especially called from Canada to Peshawar to manage the BRT project. In Canada, he had worked with the mass transit authorities.
In a statement to the media, KP CM’s spokesperson Shaukat Yousafzai said Durrani was removed since he did not perform up to the mark and kept changing dates for completion of the BRT project.
“Durrani kept on lying and eventually did not manage to inaugurate the project on May 1,” Shaukat said, adding that his removal would not affect the BRT project.
Shaukat said the government stood by its promise of inaugurating the BRT system before elections.
Further, it was reported that the decision to dismiss the TransPeshawar CEO was taken after the KP provincial cabinet briefed the chief minister on the matter. In light of the cabinet’s decision, KP Transport Secretary Kamran Rehman directed the secretary of TransPeshawar’s board of directors to temporarily appoint a member of board on the position.
TransPeshawar is responsible for the BRT project’s design, procurement, implementation, operations and service contract management.
The K-P government had earlier announced to launch the buses on April 20 this year, which was later changed to May 20.
Published in Daily Times, May 6th 2018.
