According to a report in Dawn, it was revealed during a ‘progress review meeting’ chaired by KP’s additional chief secretary Dr Shahzad Bangash on August 21, that the cost for the project has gone up by Rs3 billion.
PDA has already missed many deadlines to due to design issues, due to which it has had to engage in large-scale retrofitting on the transit route.
During the meeting, PDA Director General Mohammad Uzair informed the participants of the cost escalation and the need for revision of its PC-1.
Dr Bangash expressed concerns about the increasing costs, saying that it had been clearly communicated to PDA, even at a forum by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, that there would be no more extensions in deadline and revisions in PC-1.
In response, an official of the PDA had argued that the escalation of costs was the result of the devaluation of rupee and assured the committee that no further funding would be required.
Dr Bangash had directed participants to arrange a presentation to justify the rising costs.
Earlier, due to faulty design, the cost of the project had jumped from Rs49 billion to Rs68 billion. Hence, a revision of PC-1 would further push up the costs.
During the meeting, the PDA chief had also complained about the project contractor, who reportedly failed to abide by all the clauses of the contract agreement in line with the contractual penal clauses. Due to violations of the contract, slapping of penalties on the project contractor were under consideration.
It also came to light during the meeting that there had been delays in the submission of the final detailed engineering design drawings in various components of the project.
It was decided during the meeting that the KP government would convey its reservations regarding the performance of the contractor to the ADB.
Moreover, the participants of the meeting decided to form an inspection team for the identification of all deviations from the work.