May 13, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1427

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PESHAWAR, May 12: A man known here for manufacturing ultra-light gliders has sought financial assistance from the federal government for producing helicopters.

Qazi Sajjad Ahmad, a resident of Landi Arbab in the suburbs of Peshawar, said he had requested the prime minister’s secretariat to provide him Rs1 million for manufacturing a helicopter.

He said the prime minister’s secretariat had referred the case to the federal ministry of defence production, which had interviewed him in October 2005.

He said that after he qualified the interview, the ministry recommended providing him assistance for the purpose but the PM’s secretariat had yet to release the money.

“The engine of the ultra-light helicopter is available in the market and I have already developed 30 per cent structural material,” Mr Ahmad told Dawn.

He said he had already developed single-seater and two-seater ultra-light aircraft for the Civil Aviation Authority.

He said he had carried out test flights of the aircraft at the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, and on the occasion of national games in Peshawar in the 1990s.