PESHAWAR, June 22: The NWFP government has turned down a proposal of the City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD) for purchase of two mechanical “sweepers” from Turkey.

Officials told Dawn that the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) has opposed the move and advised the purchase of local “sweepers”.

The government had set aside an amount of Rs50 million for the purchase of two mechanical “brooms” for the fiscal year 2006-07. For this purpose, the CD&MD had engaged a Turkish manufacturer for acquiring the mechanical “sweepers”.

Under the programme, a two-member technical committee of the CD&MD was supposed to visit Turkey for physical assessment of the machine, officials said. The PDWP, however, objected to the purchase of such “brooms” from foreign manufacturers, because the province had to acquire clearance from the foreign ministry and the Economic Affairs Division.

Officials explained that the PDWP had observed that the purchase of foreign-made “brooms” would cost much more than the local ones. Their maintenance and upkeep would require additional resources. The CD&MD was directed to look for local version of the machine.

They said the CD&MD was supposed to acquire such “brooms” before the end of fiscal year 2006-07. However, it now had surrendered the funds because of its inability to utilise them within the stipulated time.