§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his Department has had with each of the four bidders for St. Helena's Air Access Project. [168384]
Mr. Gareth ThomasI wrote direct to the four respondents on 14 April to notify them of the evaluation outcome and to offer them meetings. Atkins Management Consultants, in their capacity as advisers to the St. Helena Government and DFID, have had various contacts with all respondents in the course of the evaluation process that is now complete.
Although DFID has had some discussions in 2002 with the St. Helena Leisure Corporation Ltd. (SHELCO), which was one of the four respondents to last year's international invitation for expressions of interest, we have not yet met direct with SHELCO or other respondents since receipt of their outline proposals. We did write to SHELCO in January and March of this year in response to specific queries.