Ankara Water & Sewerage Administration (ASKI) is preparing more contracts for the World Bank-supported great channel waste water disposal project despite the aversion of the new Islamist conservative municipality towards external project borrowing.

Bids are due by 1 June for contracts eight and nine, valued at about $18 million each. Contract eight is for the construction of interceptors, and contract nine is for the rehabilitation of the sewerage network in the centre of Ankara. ASKI also intends to seek bids again for the completion of contract 1A, due to a lack of interest initially in the order (MEED 11:2:94).

The new Islamist conservative Refah Partisi (RP) administration is allowing work to continue on most current schemes that are funded by external loans. The great channel project received a $173 million World Bank loan in May 1990. However, the new municipality has raised objections to the city's metro and intercity bus station schemes, and has said it will not enter into any further external project borrowing (MEED 29:4:94).

The great channel programme appears to have escaped a treasury review aimed at cutting development spending countrywide by 20 per cent as part of the austerity package introduced on 5 April. About $120 million worth of civil works contracts are outstanding in the programme, valued at about $17 million each. However, some non-essential work such as rehabilitation may be scaled back, ASKI officials say.