MINISTER of National Security Roger Alexander said the police service will both buy vehicles and lease them, the latter in order to save on money on maintenance costs, when grilled on the national budget at the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on October 22.

The draft estimates of recurrent expenditure noted more money allocated this year to rent/lease police vehicles at $25 million (up from $18.5 million spent last year) and an almost $15 million decrease in the allocation for vehicle maintenance, which fell from $39.95 million last year to $25 million this year.

Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales asked how many suppliers would the police lease vehicles from. Alexander said 18, but did not name them.