SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY

That this House notes press speculation that consideration is being given to splitting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project into two parts, with one part allocated to South Africa and another part allocated to Australia and New Zealand; believes that this would generate additional complexity and cost through duplication of infrastructure and would depart from the spirit of the original project specifications; and calls on governments involved in the allocation of the SKA to remain committed to the principle of respecting the forthcoming recommendation of the existing Site Advisory Committee, allocating the project as a whole to one of the tender consortia, instead of dividing the project into smaller constituent parts.