Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been tasked to investigate alleged corruption in road construction projects in the country.
The premier announced this at the groundbreaking ceremony in Islamabad for the upgradation of Balochistan’s 80-km long Jhaljao-Bela Road. The project will facilitate the movement of the people of Balochistan to other areas and increase economic, social, industrial, agricultural, tourism and cultural activities in the region, while creating around 3,000 job opportunities for locals.
The prime minister said the per kilometre cost for the project launched by his government was cheaper than the cost in the PML-N’s tenure seven years ago. Khan said his government was spending two hundred million rupees less on a four-lane road than the projects completed in 2013 by the previous government.
The premier announced action against those involved in wide-scale corruption in the road construction industry in the past saying the practice had long pillaged taxpayers’ money. He assured to make the findings of the investigation public.
The construction industry and road projects remain plagued by corruption and fraud in both developed and developing countries. In Pakistan, corruption is prevalent in public projects which delays the project, increases infrastructure costs, reduces the quality of infrastructure services and also favours cartels and monopolies.
Khan came into power in 2018 with the ultimate goal of building a new, corruption-free Pakistan. Khan in his speeches often calls for regulation of the sectors and more transparency to roost the plague of corruption form the society. Early this month, Pakistan government announced that it is replacing the outdated manual practice with a digital land record system to increase transparency, and curb illegal practices in the housing sector.
Imran Khan had also ordered a full-fledged inquiry into the Rawalpindi Ring Road project which allegedly involved billion of rupees of corruption, irregularities and illegal land acquisition. In May 2021, PM’s special assistant on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari resigned from the post following reports that some members of the federal cabinet were allegedly also among beneficiaries of the project. The government said no cabinet member was involved in the scam. Former commissioner of Rawalpindi retired Captain Muhammad Mahmood and land acquisition collector Abbas Tabish were arrested for their alleged involvement in the ring road scam.
