The federal government has approved the purchase of a bulletproof Toyota Land Cruiser worth Rs95.049 million to bolster security arrangements for Chinese nationals and visiting delegations associated with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The vehicle will be allocated to the CPEC Secretariat. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the protection of Chinese citizens remains one of the government’s top priorities.

According to the Express Tribune, the new Land Cruiser will supplement an existing fleet of bulletproof vehicles and at least two helicopters that are either already deployed or in the process of being acquired for the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

The CPEC Secretariat cited an insufficient pool of bulletproof vehicles within the Cabinet Division, noting that the shortfall often causes delays or cancellations of official meetings, foreign delegation visits, and high-level engagements. Relying on the private sector for rented bulletproof vehicles, it added, is both prohibitively expensive and unreliable.

The purchase was approved through direct contracting under Rule 42(c)(vii) of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules. Three Toyota dealers submitted bids, with Toyota Central Motors emerging as the lowest bidder at Rs95.049 million, undercutting Toyota Port Qasim and Toyota Society.

The CPEC Secretariat lacked the requisite funds for the purchase, prompting the Ministry of Planning to reallocate Rs58.3 million from several development projects. These included the Centre of Excellence for CPEC, the Federal SDGs Programme, the Monitoring and Evaluation Project, and the Policy Research Grants Programme. The reallocated amount also contained Rs6.2 million originally earmarked for the salaries of contract employees.

Although the funds were arranged, the purchase order could not be issued before the close of the previous fiscal year as the necessary approvals were not completed in time.