The government paid Rs 29.765 million from the national exchequer in July 2016 to bring Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif back from London through a special chartered plane after his medical treatment. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab informed this to the National Assembly on Monday during the Question Hour.
"An amount of Rs 29.765 million has been incurred on VVIP flight to bring the Prime Minister back to Pakistan after his treatment," he said, adding that no parking fee has been paid at London Airport for the flight. A special flight carrying the Prime Minister landed at Lahore on July 9 as he returned to Pakistan after 48-day stay in the United Kingdom where he reportedly underwent an open-heart surgery.
"The cost of Rs 29.765 million has been calculated on cost to cost basis and not on the basis of average revenue being earned," the minister said, "average revenue earning at this time had been Rs 18.2 million." The minister, however, tried to play down the charges by terming them as "routine expenses" and they include fuel, operations and administrative expenses of the VVIP flight.
Asking a supplementary question, MQM member Sajid Ahmad said the Prime Minister should have paid all these expenses from his own pocket instead of national exchequer. "The Prime Minister is a wealthy person and he should have borne all the transportation expenses from his own pocket," he added. Sheikh Aftab, however, said the government is planning to build state-of-the-art hospitals in the country, so that nobody should go abroad for treatment of any ailment.
PPP member Abdul Sattar Bachani also wanted to ask a supplementary question on the expenditures incurred on the VVIP flight, but the Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq didn't allow him and quickly moved to the next question. To another question, Sheikh Aftab informed the House that Pakistan International Airlines recorded a gross operating profit of Rs 2.83 billion in the 1st Qtr of 2015 while the national flag carrier has acquired 18 narrow body/fuel efficient aircraft during the last two years which improved fleet age from 9 years to 14 years.
The PIA has launched Premier Service initially on London route effective from 14 August 2016 and response of this upgraded service is very encouraging, he said, adding the PIA has obtained A-330-300 aircraft from Sri Lankan airlines in order to compete with other rival airlines on this route.
In line with Prime Minister's Youth Development Programme, cabin crew training centres have been established at Lahore, Nawab Shah, Swat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta, besides Karachi, he said. The minister said the cabin crew has also been trained from Qatar Airways and new seat tablets were introduced for B777 aircraft in Business Class. Due to induction of more aircraft in the fleet, the punctuality of flights has increased to above 90 percent during 2016, he said, adding that in order to make PIA more independent towards decision-making and commercialisation, a legislation was jointly passed by the joint session of the Parliament through which PIA has been converted from corporation into public limited company in April 2016 vide PIACL (Conversion) Act 2016.
The Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Division informed the House through a written reply that the government released Rs 289.567 million in 2015-16 for Aiwan-e-Saddar, increasing it from 242.567 million allocated in 2014-15; Rs 286.728 million for Parliament House in 2015-16, increasing it from Rs 258.141million allocated in 2014-15; Rs 115.011 million for Cabinet Block in 2015-16, increasing it from Rs 109.155 million in 2014-15.