Aviation authority reports on air traffic control system

The World Bank said on Thursday that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, had now issued a report, commissioned by the Bank, on Tanzania's plans to purchase an air traffic control system (ATCS) from British Aerospace Systems (BAeS) for some US $39 million. The World Bank stated that, given that the ATCS under consideration involved a large commitment of public resources and foreign borrowing, "the donor community, including the World Bank, participated in some of the discussions". The discussions between the Tanzanian government and donors have centred on whether the system met Tanzania’s needs, used appropriate technology, would operate efficiently in the Tanzanian environment, and achieved an appropriate balance between civilian and military uses, according to the World Bank statement. "Price and value for money were also central considerations," it added. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) delayed payment of 10 million pounds Sterling (about $14.3 million) in budgetary support in March because of concern about the Tanzanian government's commitment to poverty reduction, in light of its intention to spend so much money on the controversial system. An earlier report from the ICAO concluded that the BAeS technology was primarily for military use, and that Tanzania could buy a better system for a quarter of the price, the Guardian newspaper reported in Britain at that time. British Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short was also concerned that the high cost of the system could threaten Tanzania's sustainable economic development by diverting spending from health, education and agriculture in a country with a per capita income of less than $300 per year. Tanzania won some $3 billion in debt relief from international donors in November 2001 under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. President Benjamin Mkapa pledged that month to use the debt relief to "strengthen support for education, health, water, roads and other priority sectors". The ICAO report just issued "raises concerns and makes recommendations that are being considered carefully by the government of Tanzania," the World Bank said, adding that the government's technical experts would consult further with ICAO and BAeS, The ICAO said it was up to the World Bank, which commissioned the report, to decide whether or not it would be made public, but that it would not be usual to do so since it concerned a state government. Tanzanian civil society organisations in February criticised Mkapa's government for a lack of transparency over the proposed purchase, and the British government for issuing the licence for a system "that is inconsistent with their international aid, debt relief and sustainable development policies". [see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20848] The Tanzanian government has declared that it intends to press ahead with the purchase of the system whatever the ICAO report recommends as it is legally unable to break its contract with BAeS. A significant proportion of the cost has already been disbursed. However, other informed sources have suggested that the Tanzanian government is willing to take advice from ICAO about possible changes to the contract in order to assure "a consultative and mutually satisfactory resolution of this problem".