Even as the provincial government races to complete the mass transit project in Peshawar before the general elections later this year, a 40 per cent rise over its originally estimated cost is forcing authorities to reconsider some aspects of the project such as removing the bicycle lanes and even reducing the number of buses.The chief financier of the project has informed the government that it may not be able to pay the increased cost.The government had estimated to build the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Peshawar at a cost of Rs49.3 billion, as per its project concept-I (PC-I). However, the government has apparently revised that cost to Rs69.3 billion.To manage the extra money being spent on the mega-project, the government has prepared a revised PC-I for the project which is expected to be presented before the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) for approval.Minutes of the consultative meetings on revising the PC-I, copies of which are available with The Express Tribune, show a gloomy picture of the government’s financial position to tolerate the escalation in the cost of the project.A break-up of the revised cost provided in the documents shows that total revised cost of the project will be Rs62.8 billion. Taxes and customs duties push it to over Rs69.3 billion.The documents show that the government failed to include customs duties and taxes in the original PC-I. It prompted the additional chief secretary (ACS), who chaired the meetings, to order a probe into it to affix responsibility for the glaring omission.One of the major increases in the revised cost is that of civil works which rose 40 per cent from Rs29.7 billion in the original PC-I to Rs41.6 billion in the revised plan.The Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) director general has explained in the meeting that costs rose due to “façade to façade improvement.”A finance department representative, who attended the meeting, pointed out that the K-P government’s share in the present escalation would increase by an estimated Rs3 billion. However, the finance department will not be able to arrange the money given the current fiscal situation where it has already provided Rs6.3 billion for the project as a supplementary grant.The document says the government is currently in negotiations with the French Development Agency (FDA) which has committed to provide 130 million Euros through the Asian Development Bank (ADP).When asked to rationalise the enhanced cost, the PDA chief said that they revisited the provisions for the K-P Urban Mobility Company and for TransPeshawar and it was decided these should be revised to Rs400 million.It was further decided that the cost of the loan acquisition and resettlement plan shall be reduced. Similarly, the cost of the building package, including the Bus Depots and plaza, shall be reduced to Rs4 billion.It was also proposed in the meeting that the size of the bus fleet be reduced. However, the PDA chief said, the TransPeshawar planning general manager objected to this, stating that the number of buses has already been reduced from 299 to 220 and that any further reduction at this stage was not possible.He, however, suggested reducing the provision of keeping 10 per cent of the fleet as reserves in the original PC-I to just five per cent in the revised PC-I. This suggestion was agreed to.It was also suggested to delete the bicycle lane from the project to reduce the cost but the consultant turned down the suggestion, stating that 70 per cent of the work on it has already been completed and removing it will not affect the cost of the project.Published in The Express Tribune, May 22, 2018.