AFP, PRAGUE: The Czech Defence Ministry is to spend 2.0 billion koruna (62 million euros, 75 million dollars) on disposing of almost 90,000 tonnes of redundant army ammunition by mid-2007, defence ministry spokesman Ladislav Sticha told AFP on Tuesday.
Contracts will be signed with two Czech companies this month on the first phase, the liquidation of 39,000 tonnes of obsolete ammunition, he said.
One-tenth of that, mainly missiles, guided missiles and air-force bombs will be dismantled by Czech experts.
The remainder, most of which consists of outdated cartridges, will be destroyed.
A decision on whether to sell or destroy other obsolete ammunition will be taken later, he added.
“We will be liquidating 90,000 tonnes of the 130,000 tonnes of ammunition that we store altogether,” Sticha told AFP.
The annual cost of guarding unnecessary and outdated ammunition is 300 million koruna, according to the independent Supreme Audit Office.
The defence ministry said that since 1993, when the Czech Republic was founded following the split of Czechoslovakia, the Czech military has used 8,435 tonnes of ammunition, sold 25,698 tonnes and liquidated, and paid for the liquidation of, another 37,040 tonnes.
