The federal government has approved an additional amount of Rs410 million for the repair and maintenance of two VVIP Gulfstream aircraft said to be in use of President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, The News reported.
The supplementary grant, that comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) touts austerity to lessen the burden on the national treasury, was sanctioned in March 2019 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
It has now been reflected in the budget document for formal approval by the parliament.
The report further said that the Defence Production Division is responsible for the maintenance of these aircraft, however, ECC had failed to resolve differences between Ministry of Defence Production and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) regarding the transfer of said funds.
Directorate General Defence Procurement had purchased the two VVIP aircraft (one brand new and one used) at a cost of $58.55 million ($58, 550,924) in September 2005 on the directions of Ministries of Finance and Defence.
