§ 106. Mr. Gammansasked the Secretary of State for Air if he will make a statement on the abandonment of the heavy concrete runway at Changi Aerodrome, near Singapore; and state how much money has been written off for compensation.
§ Mr. A. HendersonIt was originally intended, as the result of a joint decision between the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Government of Singapore and the Air Ministry, to develop Changi with a heavy concrete runway as a combined R.A.F. station and civil airport. Owing to site difficulties which emerged in the course of preliminary work, it became necessary to modify this plan and a flexible runway has been constructed instead to meet R.A.F. requirements only. Liabilities amounting to £218,433 were incurred jointly by the Air Ministry, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Government of Singapore for disturbance to the contractor on the modification of the scheme and £153,357 for work done but not directly required in the project as revised.