Fly Zipline drone project: Parliament approves $10.1m tax waiver for delivery of medical products
- The House of Parliament has approved a $10.1 million tax waiver for Fly Zipline Ghana Limited to deliver medical products by drones
- The products would be delivered to public health facilities and it forms part of an agreement between the company and the ministry of health
- The minority side in Parliament earlier challenged the sole sourcing agreement that led to the deal but was unsuccessful
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Parliament has given its approval of a $10.1 million tax waiver for the delivery of medical products by drones by Fly Zipline Ghana Limited.
The waiver applies to materials and equipment to be procured under the service agreement by the parties involved.
The parties to the agreement are the government of Ghana, which is represented by the ministry of health and Fly Zipline Ghana Limited.
Source: UGC
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Per the terms of the agreement, the drones would be used for the delivery of emergency health and blood products to public health facilities.
A myjoyonline.com report shows that Parliament, in December 2018, by a majority decision, approved the agreement.
The minority side in Parliament, however, raised concerns over the decision to sole-source Fly Zipline for the $12 million project.
According to them, the contract was bloated and for that reason, they voted against its approval, but the majority side used its numbers to secure the deal.
On Wednesday, April 1, 2020, the finance committee of Parliament recommended the tax waiver, which was subsequently approved.
In other news, a top pharmaceutical company, Johnson and Johnson (J&J), is set to partner with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to fund a $1 billion vaccine research to provide a cure for the coronavirus.
BARDA is part of the United States of America (USA)’s Department of Health and Human Services.
YEN.com.gh understands that the partnership is an expansion of a previous agreement between BARDA and the J&J-owned Janssen Pharmaceutical Company.
READ ALSO: Finance minister reveals COVID-19 could cost Ghana GHC11 billion
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Source: YEN.com.gh
