Peshawar Sports Complex Tartan Track: Inordinate Delays, Cost Increases, and the Silence of Directorate

 

Musarrat Ullah Jan – KikxNow , Digital Creator

The tartan track at Peshawar Sports Complex has turned out to be the slowest, costliest, and mysterious construction in the province. It is a track where athletes learn patience instead of sprints, and by the time it's ready, the national games are over. And that's not all: KP Sports Directorate seems to have lost their microphones, so that nobody is saying a word.

Here’s the story: athletes were told, “Give us one month, the tartan track will be ready, practice will happen, and medals will follow.” One month turned into two, two months into six, and finally, the national games took place in Karachi. KP athletes reached the venue only to realize that practice wasn’t necessary to compete. Result? A single bronze medal-a symbolic reminder that once upon a time, Peshawar had dreams of a tartan track.

The most astonishing part? Foreign experts supervising the track are doing so online. Initially, two foreign specialists were to oversee the project on site. Suddenly, citing security concerns, they were sent home—but don’t worry—they continued to provide instructions through Zoom, WhatsApp, and email. This makes Peshawar probably the only city in the world with a “remotely supervised” tartan track. The physical track exists in Peshawar, but its soul seems to be guiding the project from a different time zone.

Now, the most dramatic part of the story is money. The project that started at 380 million PKR suddenly jumped to 680 million and now whispers of further increases are floating around. Where is transparency? The Sports Directorate maintains silence; engineering wing, related offices-everyone is silent-as if telling the people is some sort of crime. An RTI was filed on August 7, demanding details of PC-1, cost revisions, and project scope-but no response has been received so far. Silence here amounts to covering up public funds.

The project's scope has also changed more than once. While two variation orders were officially approved, there is reportedly a third change kept under wraps. No new advertisement, no revised tender, no explanation. According to KPPRA rules, if the cumulative changes exceed 15 percent of the original contract value, a new competitive process needs to be initiated. But here, it seems the only competition is in testing public patience—and athletes are leading the race.

Procurement experts say openly and bluntly that to repeatedly change the project without re-advertising violates the principles of transparency, equal opportunity, and fairness. But ask officials and the answer is no more than vague words or simply silence. Decisions are made in backrooms, while public records sit empty. The result is fast-growing suspicion about cost increases and scope changes.

The consequence on the athletes is crystal clear: footballers, track athletes are directly affected since there is no usable tartan track. No track means no practice, and no practice means poor performance during the national games. Administrative negligence and silence hits athletes harder than any competition.

Meanwhile, DG Sports KP, Tashfeen Haider, visited the site following complaints. Contractors were queried and deficiencies pointed out. Athletics coach Zafran was tasked with supervision of daily work to ensure that standards are upheld. This is indeed a welcome step, but one question remains: why wasn't daily supervision part of the project from day one? And can these late measures fix years of negligence?

 

In short, the questions are simple:

When is the track to be completed?

Why has the cost skyrocketed?

What are the details on variation orders?

Has KPPRA been followed?

Until those answers are given, the tartan track will remain a symbol of expensive delays, financial ambiguity, and institutional indifference: money is being spent, athletes are being left in the lurch, and the Directorate's silence is an embarrassment to governance. Many years later, the Peshawar sports complex tartan track may just be a story to be told—not one to run on. #PeshawarSportsComplex #TartanTrackDelay #KPSportsFailure #TransparencyNow #Accountability #PublicFundsMisuse #NationalGamesDebacle #SportsMismanagement