Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on which occasions since 1986 a soft loan has been paid to a body other than a Government; to whom payments were made; when and for what sum; why the payment was not made to the appropriate Government; and which British companies were the major parties to the contract.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd[holding answer 21 April 1994]: Soft loans, made by commercial banks and involving Her Majesty's Government paying interest make-up to support the concessional rates offered, have been made direct to a body other than the recipient Government on four occasions since 1986. In all these cases the soft loans were made direct at the request of the recipient Government. Details are given in the table.
COLOMBIA Title: System X Project. Borrower: Empresa Nacional de Telecominicaciones de Colombia. Loan amount: £8.6 million with effect from June 1988. Lead contractor: Plessey UK Limited. JORDAN Title: Walking Draglines. Borrower: Jordan Phosphate Mining Company Ltd. Loan amount: £9 million with effect from April 1987. Lead contractor: Ransomes and Rapier plc. MALAYSIA Title: Pergau hydroelectric project. Borrower: Tenaga Nasional Berhad Loan amount: £305.443 million with effect from July 1991. Lead contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd. and Cementation International Limited. TURKEY Title: Ankara Natural Gas Conversion. Borrower: Electricity, Gas and Omnibus Authority of Ankara. Loan amount: £68 million with effect from May 1988. Lead contractor: British Gas plc.