§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 8 March,Official Report, column 407, what provision he will make for an on site resident engineer to inspect, monitor and certify the quality of constructional steel fabricated by Construzione Cimolai Armando at its factory in Pordenone for use as part of the second Severn crossing in line with the system of inspection, monitoring and certification for constructional steel for United Kingdom highway structure fabricated within the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Kenneth Carlisle[holding answer 27 April 1993]: The second Severn crossing is being financed and constructed under the terms of a concession agreement between the Government and a concession company, Severn River Crossing plc.
To ensure that SRC and its contractor, the Laing-GTM joint venture, satisfy their responsibilities under the concession agreement, an independent firm of consulting engineers has been appointed as the Government's agent. The agent is responsible for the monitoring of design and construction of the works to see that they comply fully with laid down British or equivalent standards and specifications. SRC's quality assurance system will be audited and monitored.
In carrying out these duties, the Government agent has access to all locations where materials are being manufactured for the works, for the purposes of general inspection and of amending any test or investigations being carried out.