§ Clive EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of Project Aquatrine. [66236]
§ Dr. MoonieProject Aquatrine will transfer the responsibility for the maintenance and operation of all the Ministry of Defence's water and wastewater assets and infrastructure in Great Britain to private sector providers.
There are three contracts for water and wastewater service provision. An initiation to negotiate for the first contract covering South West England and Wales was issued on 16 July 2001 and it is anticipated that a preferred bidder will be selected by the end of 2002.
Invitations to negotiate for the remaining two contracts covering Scotland and the North and East of England, to be issued to six bidders, on 3 July for the North and East of England contract and 10 July 2002 for the Scottish contract.
The consortia invited to negotiate for the Scotland contract are:
- Brey Utilities;
- Nevis Water—comprising Thames Water plc and Scottish Water; and
- United Utilities/Morgan Est/Babtie Consortium.
The consortia invited to negotiate for the North and East of England:
- Brey Utilities—comprising Yorkshire Water Services Limited, Earth Tech Engineering Limited, Halliburton Brown and Root Limited;
- Diamond Alliance Ltd;
- Thames Water plc; and
- United Utilities/Morgan Est/Babtie Consortium.
It is anticipated that the preferred bidder for the Scottish and North and East England contracts will be announced in July 2003, with the contract expected to be awarded in October 2003, with go-live in April 2004.