The BBC relay station on Ascension Island could become victim to a financial crisis on the island caused by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). According to The Times, the threat comes because the MoD is determined to cut costs to pay for Afghanistan. Its refusal to pay back-taxes on the airbase that Britain shares with the US has left Ascension with a £900,000 deficit on its £6 million budget. The island’s small council and government, responsible for all services to the 900 inhabitants, have cut spending to the bone.
The Times says that the 50 specialist engineers who maintain the power station and vast array of transmitters, antennas and satellite dishes at the BBC relay station would leave overnight if they were forced to send their families off the island. Without the BBC relay there would be no power generation or desalination plant. There would be no water for anyone on the island except the Americans, who operate their own power and desalination plants.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Full story at The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6882948.ece
The Times says that the 50 specialist engineers who maintain the power station and vast array of transmitters, antennas and satellite dishes at the BBC relay station would leave overnight if they were forced to send their families off the island. Without the BBC relay there would be no power generation or desalination plant. There would be no water for anyone on the island except the Americans, who operate their own power and desalination plants.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Full story at The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6882948.ece