“Reception of Russian water bombers delayed by crisis in Ukraine,” Interior Minister says
BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The Minister of the Interior, Local Assemblies and Regional Planning, Brahim Merad, tackled, on Thursday, the acquisition of water bomber planes to fight forest fires. Mr. Merad also discussed the reasons for the delay in receiving aircraft already ordered from Russia.
During a plenary session devoted to oral questions at the Council of the Nation, Mr. Merad specified that “the Ministry of National Defense has initiated the necessary steps for the acquisition of four (4) Russian-made aircraft, including the reception that has been delayed due to the repercussions of the crisis in Ukraine.”
He said that “an aircraft will be received in the coming weeks, in addition to the chartering of six (6) others with a technical team in the coming days and the launch of a call for tenders for the acquisition of six (6) firefighting means, in application of the directives of the President of the Republic.”
Regarding firefighting, according to the minister, “more than 765 Civil Protection intervention units are mobilized annually in forest areas, as well as 65 mobile columns comprising 3,770 elements equipped with 650 fire trucks of all types, in more than 6 helicopters belonging to the Civil Protection air group.”
