Rivers state government releases Agreement on purchased helicopters

Rivers state government, yesterday, released the details of its agreement for the purchase of the two helicopters that had generated buzz in both the print and the social media in the past few days.

Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Commissioner for Information and Communications in the state, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, emphasised on the importance of releasing details of the purchase agreement so the media could clarify all other issues relating to the agreement.

She said that media organisations were at liberty to contact Africair Inc, a Florida, US, corporation, that entered into the purchase agreement with the state government.

The Helicopter Purchase Agreement stated that the two Bell 412EP helicopters were purchased at the rate $28.414 million.

Stating further, the agreement clarifies that the helicopters were manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc.

The agreement clearly shows that the “freight and ferry charges, disassembly, crating, reassembly and insurance from the place of delivery to the Helicopters’ final destination, shall be the seller’s responsibility.

“The purchase price include a Bell transition training course for two pilots per helicopter; a Bell field maintenance training course for one engineer and a Bell electrical training course for one engineer per helicopter at no additional charge.”

Responding to questions from newsmen, the commissioner had disclosed further that the helicopters were paid for by the state and Federal Governments, stating that they were bought to address security challenges bedevelling the state, which include fighting all illegal bunkering operations to a halt. She explained that the state House of Assembly had given an approval to the state government to complete payment on its share.

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