Portugal’s taxpayers have been shelling out on firefighting helicopter hire at twice the previous hourly cost.
Heliportugal, the company which already faces court over a previous dispute, has been billing at the equivalent of €12,000-an-hour under a direct purchase contract for the hire of three battle-weary Kamov helicopters.
The Government rented the three Kamovs to fight fires between July and October this year. The cost has been about €3.6 million, equivalent to an hourly rate of €12,000 - more than double the €5,000-an-hour paid in a previous contract with Everjets, a contract which was scrapped in May this year.
The previous and controversial 20017 contract with Heliportugal, signed when António Costa was Minister of Internal Affairs, was ended by the government in 2014 due to allegations of non-compliance and ended up at the Attorney General's Office due to suspicion of irregularities.
The Court of Auditors pronounced that the Heliportugal contract did not represent value for money and "was not in the public interest."
Parts of the tatty Kamov helicopters used this year are in a poor state of repair but the National Civil Aviation Authority cited data protection law so as to avoid having to disclose how the machines received airworthiness certificates in only three days.
The Ministry of Home Affairs says the contract information released by TVI is "inaccurate." The Ministry claims that the contracting of Kamovs for the 2018 season was preceded by a consultation procedure with nine helicopter operators offering a range of helicopter options.
As for the hourly rate taxpayers have been stiffed with, the Ministry claims that it is not fair to calculate the hourly rate when the helicopters are under a multi-annual, fixed price contract which includes paying for maintenance.
