HC Deb 08 February 1996 vol 271 c299W
Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list all the contracts or work done by the British Geological Survey paid for by the Overseas Development Administration, the nature of work, and the cost in each case; what arrangements need to be made to continue these programmes if the survey is privatised; and if he will make a statement. [14113]

Mr. Hanley

Following are the current contracts that the British Geological Survey has with ODA:

Contract Country Value £
Yaoba Oasis Environmental Project (hydrogeological consultants) China 186,688
Establishment of coastal geology unit (IT training) Albania 78,525
Water Resources Management, lake Balkhash (environmental impact study) Kazakhstan 26,046
Primoyre Mineral Waters (water sampling) Russia 24,973
Environmental Thematic Mapping Slovakia 36,500
Resource centre scheme with ODA (call down contracts for ad hoc consultancy work) Global 75,000
Bapedal Groundwater Project (monitoring consultancy) Indonesia 39,200
World Bank Mining and Environmental Project (geological information mapping programme) Ecuador 2,319,282
Coal Bed Methane Pre-feasibility study Bangladesh 44,500
Land-ocean Contaminant study Mexico/Africa/Indonesia 434,939
Mitigation of mining related mercury pollution hazards Philippines/Ecuador 268,000
Protecting groundwater beneath wastewater recharge sites Mexico/Thailand 207,271
Groundwater management in drought prone areas of Africa Africa 142,527
Developing new well siting techniques Zimbabwe/Egypt 203,822
Groundwater resources degradation; socio-economic impacts and their mitigation China/India/Thailand/Mexico/Jersey/Palestinian Territories 94,050 134,000 to BGS)
1 Joint research project with the Natural Resources Institute

If the BGS is privatised, the arrangements for continuing these programmes would be reviewed at the time. One option would be to transfer the contracts to the new owner.