Under a $10million vehicle lease arrangement with Asco Motors the Government received the first lot of vehicles this afternoon.
In receiving the eight twin cab Toyota Hilux vehicles the Ministry of Finance acting permanent secretary David Kolitagane said the vehicles would vastly improve government's rural outreach services.
"The bottom line here is the need to improve services to rural areas and we believe these vehicles will enable government officials to reach the most isolated areas," he said.
The first lot of the vehicles has been distributed to the Ministry of Health, Lands, Mineral Resources, Itaukei Affairs and the Chief Registrar’s office.
A further 15 vehicles will be received in September with the remainder of the 132 units to be delivered to Government by December 2011.
The three party vehicle leasing agreement was signed between Government, Asco Motors and the Bank of the South Pacific earlier this month.
Under the agreement, Asco Motors will provide Government with 132 vehicles and Government pays financiers BSP a monthly lease rental that covers the cost of the vehicle, insurance, servicing and all purchase costs.
In signing the agreement, the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the new vehicles would allow Government to fully equip its officers with the resources needed to extend services, especially to the rural areas.
“The Ministry of Health will get a healthy chunk, that’s why we are saying it is important to get these vehicles on the road as soon as possible,” he said.
“Because you know, for example in the outreach, medical facilities we want to provide in the rural areas and for agricultural outreach programs, you need vehicles to go out and service these areas.
“It’s one thing to say let’s provide these services but if you don’t give the tools to people out in the field then they cannot provide their roles.
“On the other hand if we had to wait to have enough money to buy them outright – we’d have to wait for five years – so I think this is the problem we had seen previously where previous Governments had a policy of purchasing vehicles – so as you may recall about seven to eight years ago police said they needed an x number of vehicles and that they could only fulfill this demand within 10 to 15 years and by that time police would need more vehicles still.”
Asco Motors will regularly maintain and repair the vehicles.
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