Three months after the introduction of a directive restricting the use of high-powered vehicles by government officials, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation is to purchase 400 vehicles that will replace high-powered automobiles currently used by officials while traveling within city limits.
This particular directive from the Office of the Prime Minister mainly targets bringing equitable distribution of vehicles used by government officials. It puts a restriction on officials using sports utility vehicles (SUVs) such as Nissan Pajeros as well as Toyota Prados and V8s inside Addis Ababa.
According to the directive, eight CC vehicles would be reserved for ministers, state ministers, speakers and their deputies, presidents and vice presidents of federal courts, commissioners and deputy commissioners whereas six and four CC vehicles would be used by directors.
In line with this, the 400 automobiles will be purchased through a national competitive bid. Moreover, in accordance with the directive on the purchase of cost-effective vehicles, the vehicles will exclusively be procured from local assemblers.
Following the purchase, MoFEC is expected to allocate the vehicles to federal public offices. Once the purchase is concluded, high-powered vehicles will only be reserved for field trips.
Officials affected by the directive include ministers, state ministers, speakers and their deputies of both houses of parliament, presidents and vice presidents of federal courts, commissioners and deputy commissioners as well as directors.
It is to be recalled that the directive also instructed government offices to coordinate the utilization of vehicles and to allocate vehicles appropriately.
When it comes to using other automobiles in the city, the directive put a cap on the amount of gas. Therefore, officials can use only up to 135 liters of benzene per month, with offices required to apply for special permits in cases when more gas is needed than allocated. The ministry will then decide based on the merit of each request, reads the directive.
The directive went into effect August 2017, and gives a grace period to federal offices to continue using high-powered vehicles in Addis Ababa up until a time when they are in possession of locally-assembled automobiles .
The procurement bid for the 400 automobiles now floated by the Public Procurement and Property Disposal Service on behalf of MoFEC will be opened this week. The bidders, all local, will be evaluated both technically and financially.
