Peshawar BRT contractors’ dues: ICC proposes mediation in Islamabad

PESHAWAR: The International Court of Arbitration (ICC) has proposed to mediate the Rs30 billion arrears dispute between the Peshawar BRT project contractors, specifically Maqbool Calsons JV, and the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) in Islamabad instead of abroad.

In March, the Maqbool Calsons JV consisting of Pakistani and Chinese firms of the BRT project had again filed a case against PDA Peshawar in the ICC, requesting the international arbitrator to intervene for the payment of the arrears, and a fee of $6000 was also paid to ICC.

Earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and PDA had failed to hire counsel to plead their case at the ICC in France, while the consortium of contractors has hired the services of Uzair Karamat Bhandari, who represents a renowned law firm in Pakistan, for legal counsel.

According to the documents available with HUM News English, on April 24, 2024, the PDA director-general received a letter from the ICC head office, stating that a three-member arbitral tribunal will be constituted in Islamabad to settle the arrears of the BRT project, for which both parties will have to pay $758,000.

According to the letter, the foreign (Chinese) firm has no objection to hearing the case in Islamabad.

PDA Peshawar officials confirmed the receipt of the ICC’s letter and said that consultations will be started soon to thrash out a strategy in this regard.

According to PDA officials, a summary had been sent to the chief minister to resolve the issue of payment of arrears but it could not be implemented.

It should be noted that when HUM News English broke the news of BRT contractors’ JV going to ICC in September 2023, the PDA officers dismissed the news as baseless, but now the same officers seem worried about the ICC letter and they seem to have no immediate plan regarding this case.