HL Deb 13 February 1995 vol 561 cc24-5WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which British firms have received contracts to work on the Ankara Metro and what is the value of such contracts.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

Coppee UK has been awarded a contract valued at £51 million. It has subcontracted some of this work to:

  • Crown Agents — £4.2m
  • GEC Alsthom — £17.1m
  • NEI Control Systems — £3.2m
  • Balfour Beatty — £5.7m
  • WA 25
  • Brecknell Willis — £4.7m
  • Thorn TTSI — £1.9m
  • Cegelec — £8.9m.

A separate contract valued at £8.15 million has been awarded to Westinghouse Brakes Limited.

Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How much United Kingdom aid has been paid to the Ankara Metro project, how much was as loans and how much as grants; and whether any loans are on "soft conditions".

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

To date, £10.6 million has been expended in support of the project. This has all been on grant terms, linked to an export credit guaranteed by ECGD.

Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

On what grounds the Ankara Metro project in Turkey was deemed suitable for United Kingdom aid; and whether internal conflict in Turkey and the human rights abuses by persons responsible to the Turkish Government and others were taken into account in reaching that decision.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The Ankara Metro project was designed to reduce chronic road congestion and pollution. The scale of internal conflict and associated human rights abuses were not central to the decision to fund the project.