25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, June 24: Chief Minister of the cash-strapped NWFP, Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani, has given the go-ahead for the purchase an aircraft to reduce travel costs which run into millions of rupees.

Documents available with Dawn confirmed that Mr Durrani gave his assent in the second week of June to a proposal to buy the 10-seat jet and constituted a 10-member committee, headed by Finance Minister Sirajul Haq, to assess different bids and technical details.

A summary presented to the chief minister in May had said that the provincial government currently paid Rs12.5 million annually to the Peshawar Flying Club even if its plane was not used.

In addition to this sum, the summary revealed, the provincial government incurred a staggering Rs25 million during the current financial year on travel expenses of important personalities, including Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah and Chief Minister Durrani.

Sources told Dawn that the amount was paid to the Askari Aviation and the Cabinet Division for helicopters used to fly provincial dignitaries to remote and inaccessible areas.

It was, therefore, proposed to the chief minister that the provincial government purchase a 10-seater plane, which was 'not very old', and expressions of interest (EoIs) were called after seeking necessary approval from the federal government.

It was also proposed to form a 10-member committee to look into technicalities of various planes and review bids and submit its finding to the chief minister.

According to details furnished by the Services & Administration Department, NWFP, Beech B-58 (model 2001) of eight-seat capacity costs $774,000 (Rs445,085,500); Piper Seneca-V (2001) also of eight-seat capacity costs $555,800 (Rs32,375,350); Beech Craft B-200 (2003) of six-seat capacity costs $4,095,000 (Rs238,533,750); Beech Craft King Air B-200 (2003) of 12-seat capacity costs $3,895,000 (Rs226,883,750); Cessna Turbo Stationair (2004) of six-seat capacity costs $399,500 (Rs23,270,875); and Beech Craft B-200 (2000) of 12-seat capacity costs $2,995,000 (Rs174,458,750).

The sources told Dawn that the orders to submit a summary containing a proposal to purchase an aircraft had come from the 'top'. "Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have their own aircraft for use of their chief ministers and governors and it was felt that the NWFP, too, should have a plane readily available," an official said.

He said that the chief minister had also asked the committee to look into the possibility of leasing a helicopter. "But this could be a very expensive proposition," he cautioned.

The NWFP government, he said, had once owned a used Cessna 421 bought from the United States but gave it to the Peshawar Flying Club. A letter addressed to the Peshawar Flying Club by the deputy director, protocol, in March early this year had asked whether it would be interested in selling the Cessna 421 back to the government.

But the chief flying instructor of the Peshawar Flying Club informed the provincial government that the management of the club might not like to sell it. The source said that the provincial government would also like to look for a second-hand jet aircraft often on sale in the Gulf to get a good bargain.

The purchase of the new aircraft, however, is bound to raise quite a few eyebrows in a province that is heavily dependent on the federal government and international lending agencies to finance its development programme.

Sikandar Sherpao, who first broke the news while debating the provincial budget for 2004-2005, criticised the purchase of aircraft. "This exposes the double-standards of the MMA government, their hollow claims of following austerity and cutting down the costs of administration," he told Dawn.