ISLAMABAD, June 11: Pakistan has decided to buy and shift a second-hand Turkish satellite, with a remaining life of five years, to occupy 38E orbital position in the space, well placed sources informed Dawn.

According to sources in the science and technology ministry, the government decided to buy and shift the Turkish satellite at a cost of $10 million to slot 38E by February, 2003. If the allotted slot is not occupied by the stipulated time, it would be permanently lost, sources said.

The slot would cover areas between Europe, Middle East and South Asia.

Sources said the cost of the geostationary communications satellite, Paksat, project was Rs3.6 billion and an allocation of Rs720 million was proposed to be made in the 2002-2003 budget for it.

The yearly maintenance cost of the Turkish satellite, sources said, was estimated to be $5 million, while the annual revenues were expected to be $3 million to $7 million.

Information technology industry sources raised apprehensions about the security of the relayed information on the second-hand satellite in view of the fact that the original users would have all the security codes.

When contacted, spokesperson for the science and technology ministry, Maimoona Amjad, said the security aspect of the second-hand satellite was discussed threadbare by the committee on Paksat project.

The spokesperson said it had been decided that no secure information would be passed on the satellite by the armed forces, the foreign office and other sensitive agencies. The satellite would be used only for commercial purposes, she said.

In reply to a question, the spokesperson said the army authorities would use the transponders but not for relaying sensitive security information.

Defending the decision to buy the satellite, the ministry in a communication to Dawn in response to a question said a new satellite would cost $150 million to $300m, while an existing satellite was available at lower prices.

The ministry said the second-hand satellite would serve the immediate motive of occupying the slot and gain time to build the country’s indigenous capability. “So there is no sense in wasting a large amount of money on buying a new satellite,” the ministry said.

The ministry further said as it was not possible to build the country’s own satellite in a short time, a two-track policy had been adopted. The short-term plan is to position an existing satellite in the slot allotted to Pakistan and gain the breathing space required to build the country’s own satellite. The satellite would be commercial and no secure information would be passed through it, the ministry said.

Investigations show the Paksat project, since its inception, has been running into difficulties.

The Letter of Intent of the project was issued in 1994 and a $200 million agreement was signed with France’s Alcatel Espace in August 1996, for launch of Paksat on behalf of Pakistan under a 15-year licence with 26 transponders.

However, the French company backed out of the agreement in August 2001, sources said.

Sources said the government considered to initiate a legal action against Alcatel but it was found that the agreement did not contain any penalty clause.

They said that as part of the accountability drive initiated by the then government, Alcatel Espace was asked to certify that it had not paid any commissions and kickbacks for the project.

The officials alleged that the implementation agreement could not be signed because of delaying tactics used by the French company. To overcome the problems in the project, officials said the government appointed a high powered committee.

Presided over by Science and Technology Minister Dr Attaur Rehman, the committee has IT and telecom secretary, finance secretary-general, advisor to the science and technology minister, Pakistan Telecommunication Company chairman, NTC chairman, GHQ signal officer-in-chief, Suparco chairman, and senior officers of IT and telecom division as its members.

Rejecting the allegations that buying a second-hand satellite had more margin for commissions and kickbacks, the spokesperson said the minister was concerned about the project and he had sought views of all the committee members before taking the final decision. The decision was taken with consensus of all the committee members, the spokesperson said.

Sources said bids of 13 firms for the development of indigenous Paksat project were received, but the government was weighing different options in view of the security concerns.