LAHORE – The Deputy Prime Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, on Friday alleged that the actual cost of the Metro Bus was being kept hidden from the people in a bid to cover the corrupt practices in the project.  In a press statement issued on Friday, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, claimed that neither PC-1 was made nor rules and procedure followed in the Metro Bus project.  He alleged that DG LDA flouted rules and regulations for the Metro Bus and the project would surface in the times to comes as the biggest corruption scandal of Asia.  He further alleged that the officers of the LDA minted money in the project including the DG LDA and that they would be held accountable for embezzlement.  The Deputy Prime Minister said that the provincial government was claiming to have completed the project with a cost of Rs30 billion, whereas according to the official Planning and Development Department, so far about Rs 75 billion had been spent on it.  Pervaiz claimed that the advisors of the provincial government on the project had copied the route of our Lahore Metro Train, which was the idea of his government.  He said that since the Metro train was to be underground it not have caused problems and difficulties for the people, whereas Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions were to provide funding of billions of dollars and Punjab government’s only investment of 40 crores dollars was for land and technical cooperation.