§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the status of Project Aquatrine. [102324]
§ Mr. KilfoyleProject Aquatrine will provide, for the first time, strategic management of water and sewerage services across more than 3,000 Ministry of Defence sites in Great Britain. The Department aims to achieve this through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and has today launched a market consultation paper to explore private sector interest in the project. The PPP will lead to greater value for money, investment in the defence infrastructure and enable responsibility for the provision of water and sewerage services to rest with those best able to deal with it while meeting the Department's on-going environmental responsibilities.
The market consultation follows successful pathfinder projects at Tidworth and Lyneham; the outcome will inform the decision on the next phase of the project.
The current plan is to advertise Project Aquatrine in the Official Journal of the European Communities in early 2000, leading to the selection of a partner to begin providing services in late 2003. The project has a potential value of £1 billion over 25 years.