Lahore: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal has directed the board’s Lahore-wing director general to launch an investigation into reports of financial corruption — allegedly amounting to PKR 62 billion — in the construction of the Lahore Ring Road (LRR) project, a news source reported.
Reports of financial irregularities recently surfaced during a special audit of the LRR project. The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) had audited the project’s expenditure declared for 2016-17 and scrutinised the project on various ends; including land acquisition, contract management, and financial procedures and management. The AGP’s findings revealed PK 42.38 billion of financial embezzlement, of which no official records were available.
Further, the Punjab Communication and Works Department stated it had found irregularities worth PKR 59.39 billion; a big chunk of these misappropriations was detected in the project’s land purchase process, wherein the department had detected over-valuation in land price that was stated to be PKR 4.36 billion in excess of the price stated in the officials documents.
The 85-kilometre-long circular road links the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) and the National Highway (N-5). The road was inaugurated in 2017, while work on the construction of LRR Southern Loop (SL) III and SL IV has yet to achieve completion status. The SL III will connect Adda Plot on the Raiwind Road with Multan Road while the SL IV will link Multan Road with a road near Babu Sabu completing the road’s circular loop around Lahore.
