PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday called for an inquiry into the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, saying that the plan had started off with a cost of Rs30 billion and has now crossed Rs100bn.

"If an inquiry has to be held in this country [...] it should be launched into the Peshawar BRT project," he said in a media talk outside an accountability court in Islamabad, where he appeared in connection with a case pertaining to alleged corruption in the construction of the Narowal Sports City Project (NSCP).

"It started with [a cost of] Rs30bn and has now crossed Rs100bn. Its design and its construction are both not organised [...] Peshawar has turned into ditches," he said.

"Narowal Sports City Project is not a project of ditches," he added. The former interior minister said that the sports village, that has been constructed in his constituency, was built in accordance with "international standards" to help promote sports in the country.

According to the PML-N leader, 90 per cent construction of the sports city has been completed but the project is now in doldrums because of the inquiry "that was initiated over someone's baseless request".

"Such successful national projects should not be made controversial," he said.

Iqbal further said that the PML-N had not only completed several development projects that were initiated by its government during its five-year tenure, it had also "completed white elephant projects" that were started by previous governments.

He accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of being "on a mission to demolish Pakistan's economy" and declared that he was "not afraid of arrests or threats".

"We will not stop revealing Imran Khan's failures. We will tell the nation how the growth rate dropped from 6 per cent to 3pc," he said.

He also called upon the government to provide facilities to incarcerated PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah, who was arrested on Monday by the Anti Narcotics Force.