§ 5. Mr. Biggs-Davisonasked the Minister of Overseas Development whether he will make a statement about aid for the rebuilding of bridges in the Orientale Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other items in the British aid programme for that country.
§ Mr. PrenticeA small team of Royal Engineers has recently finished supervising the reconstruction of 11 damaged bridges in the Orientale Province. The costs of about £42,000 for Bailey bridging material and about £7,000 for extra personnel costs have been met by my Department.
The British Ambassador in Kinshasa has reported that this project has been outstandingly successful and that its impact has been out of all proportion to the modest cost to the British taxpayers.
We also provide a small amount of specialised training in Britain for Congolese, mainly English language teachers.