THE £1.7bn Ministry of Defence contract could prove a catalyst for hi-tech jobs in Gwent. The winner of the armed forces Bowman communications deal, Computing Devices Canada (CDC) Systems, says firms flocked to its hub in Calgary when it was involved in a Canadian army communications project.

The firm says there is no reason to suggest that a repeat of this multiplier effect will not happen at Oakdale Business Park where it is basing its new HQ.

Mike Turley, CDC vice-president business development Bowman programme, said: "There will be a residual effect with other firms attracted to the area such as CSC Systems which will create 100 jobs, 70 of which will not be related to the Bowman program.

"This is an example of what we think will happen as that happened in Calgary where we were working on the Canad-ian army's Iris project and we ended up with something like fifty or sixty smaller firms setting up shop near the main contractor so hopefully this situation will replicate itself in Oakdale." Commenting on the bid to secure the contract Mr Turley said: "It has been a tough and well run competition there is no question about that and it has been run at a furious pace.

"We know the trust that has been placed in us and we now have to deliver what we said we will deliver and on time.

First minister Rhodri Morgan told Business Argus the importance of the contract could not be overstated.

He said: "This is very good news because of the technology involved and also because it comes after bad news relating to Corus, Solectron and Aiwa. "What we have here is hi-technology, future-orientated jobs."

He said "many hundreds" of jobs will be created with the order.

He said: "They (CDC) won't provide all the jobs but they confidently anticipate that other companies will group around them to help create the knock-on jobs. "Oakdale is a wonderful virgin business park of 100 acres - this a very big breakthrough to get such a prestigious announcement as this."

Mr Morgan said CDC had chosen Oakdale due to the wealth of telecommunications expertise in the vicinity.

"There is a pool of expertise which is as great as you are likely to get in the Bracknell area, which is where it would have gone if the rival consortium had got the contract." He said: "It is important to stress that the jobs are being created in Britain in an area that needs them and are not being lost at all - they just being moved down the M4 to an area that needs them much more."

South Wales will get an initial 530 jobs out of a total of 1,520 to be spread thro-ughout the UK.