§ The Earl of SwintonMy Lords, a Statement was made in another place yesterday by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence about the Government's decision on the construction of a new strategic airfield in the Falkland Islands. With the leave of the House, I will arrange for the text of the Statement to be included in the Official Report.
Following is the Statement referred to above:
Mr. Speaker, with permission, I should like to make a Statement about the Government's decision on the construction of a new strategic airfield in the Falkland Islands.The Government believe that the defence of the Falkland Islands, the support of the garrison and its reinforcement in emergency depend on permanent and improved airfield facilities; and the Government welcome the recent useful report of the Defence Committee which supports this view.The present airfield at RAF Stanley is temporary and operations are restricted by the length and strength of its single runway. Therefore, we have examined the alternatives of improving RAF Stanley or of building a new airfield on a clear site at Mount Pleasant, which is between Stanley and Darwin.We have now decided that the right course is to build at Mount Pleasant. This is less expensive, even allowing for the cost of a road between Mount Pleasant and Stanley, and it is much less likely to involve unforeseen delays and interruptions to the construction work. Most important, the use of RAF Stanley by the garrison will not be restricted while the new airfield is being built.The new airfield will be able to operate wide-bodied aircraft, civil as well as military. This will enable us to make welcome saving in the running costs of supporting the garrison; it will greatly reduce the amount of time required to reinforce the garrison if need be: and it will give a powerful boost to the economy and infrastructure of the islands.Tenders have been received from three consortia of British civil engineering contractors, and a contract for the construction of Mount Pleasant airfield will be placed very shortly by the PSA with the consortium of Mowlem/Laing/Amey Roadstone Construction. The value of the work to be executed under this contract, together with the costs of sub-contracts and shipping, is approximately £190 million; to this will be added the cost of the Stanley to Mount Pleasant road and a separate contract to install Government-furnished communication and navigation aids, making a total of about £215 million.This order of cost was allowed for in the additional provision for Falklands expenditure included in the Defence budget, and will not therefore add to planned public expenditure or necessitate offsetting reductions in defence expenditure elsewhere. The labour force will be recruited in this country. Work on the site will begin this autumn—the Falklands spring—and the new main runway should be usable from April 1985, and the whole airfield complex including all the necessary facilities will be complete around February 1986.I believe that this Statement will be generally welcome, both in Parliament and in the Falklands, and will be seen as another practical sign of our determination to ensure the security of the islands".