§ Mr. Pavittasked the Minister of Overseas Development how much of the special aid of £25 million offered to Malaysia has so far been set aside to provide for studies by British consultants; and for what purposes are such studies intended.
§ Mrs. HartWe propose, with the agreement of the Malaysian Government, to use £1½ million to finance the employment of British consultants on a wide range of projects. Arrangements have recently been completed to finance a consultancy study in West Malaysia costing over £½ million. The project involves a comprehensive study of two regions in the south-east of Johor State covering 1,000 square miles, with the object of producing—within two years—a regional development master plan to provide the broad outlines for the development of the regions over the next two decades. This feasibility study will be the largest and most comprehensive so far financed from 379W British aid funds. In addition, we have agreed that these funds may be used to finance studies by British consultants of many other high priority development projects in both East and West Malaysia, including port design, railway improvement, airport design, road development and water supply.