RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Saturday said the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project shouldn’t be abandoned as it held “national importance” and one of PTI’s flagship projects.
Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi, he expressed how he still hold that the project should be finished.
Referring to the ongoing investigations into alleged corruption in the RRR project he said the relevant institutions such as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal investigation Agency should do their work, carry out a thorough investigation and whoever is found guilty as as result should face the consequences.
Realignments in the RRR project had forced Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch an inquiry into the motives behind them that had added around Rs25 billion to the cost and would allegedly benefit certain housing society developers.
“I want to repeat that we don’t have any relation with its alignment or any financial interests associated with societies nor is any of our land part of the Ring Road project”, the aviation minister added.
He said that the premier had even told him that his name was nowhere in the reports submitted and there was no need for the press conference held earlier by the latter on the issue.
On Monday Sarwar clarified that there was no political involvement in finalizing the alignment of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Ring Road project.
“If there is any change in the road alignment, it is purely due to technical reasons that can be explained by relevant experts,” he said while addressing a news conference.
The minister viewed that the inquiry report about the project should be revisited as some members of the investigation committee had attached their separate dissenting notes with it.
He regretted that although there was no mention of his or any of his family members’ name in the inquiry report, yet some elements were attempting to involve him in the scandal. He asked such elements to prove his involvement with documentary evidence, or otherwise get ready to face legal action.
Sarwar said that an alignment of the Ring Road from Rawat to Thalian Interchange connecting it with the motorway, was discussed in 2017, but it was not approved. “Onward it was directionless,” he added.
The investigation
Last Saturday, Prime Minister Imran ordered a full-fledged inquiry into the RRR project scam after which the Punjab government decided to send the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for a thorough investigation.
The decisions were taken as two fact-finding reports — one by the Rawalpindi commissioner and the other by the deputy commissioner — landed at the prime minister office, with the second report hinting that the project had been realigned with the approval of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and his finance adviser Dr Salman Shah.
However, the PML-N demanded action against the relevant authorities for approving the ring road’s realignment, asserting that neither Chief Minister Buzdar and Prime Minister Imran nor “direct beneficiaries” such as cabinet members Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Bukhari should be exempted.
PML-N Deputy Secretary-General Attaullah Tarar had alleged that both Bukhari and Khan had received huge financial benefits through the ring road project because their lands were near the project.
