Khawaja Asif slams poor quality of World Bank-funded road project in Sialkot

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has criticized the poor quality of work on a major World Bank-funded project in Sialkot.

Khawaja Asif took to his X account to share a video of potholes on the road.

He alleged that the contractor is both “powerful and a sitting member of parliament,” making accountability nearly impossible.

Posting the video on social media platform X, Asif said the project is part of the Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program (PICIIP), under which multi-million-dollar World Bank loans have been utilized for development work in Sialkot and Sahiwal for several years.

He urged the public to judge the quality of work through the footage he shared.

The minister pointed out that the video was taken on Khadim Ali Road in Sialkot, where the contractor had laid underground pipelines.

“If this is the quality of work here, one can imagine the standard across the entire project,” Asif remarked.

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He added that although a disposal system has been built outside the city, it has yet to be made operational.

“As the contractor is extremely powerful, and himself a member of our parliament, accountability seems unlikely. Their wealth knows no bounds,” Asif said, adding that since Sialkot is his constituency, raising his voice was his duty.

یہ ایک پراجیکٹ ھے جس کا نام PICIIP ھے سینکڑوں ڈالر کا ورلڈ بینک کا قرضہ دو شہروں سیالکوٹ اور ساہیوال میں کئی سال سے کام ھو رہا ھے۔ کام کی کوالٹی کا آپ اس وڈیو سے اندازہ لگا لیں۔ یہ سیالکوٹ میں خادم علی روڈ ھے اور اسکے نیچے PICCIP کے ٹھیکدار نے پائپ ڈالے ھیں ۔ اس سے باقی کام کی… pic.twitter.com/UA019UFOSh

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) August 29, 2025