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| Crossrail gets Treasury backing (was Re: London's five-year plan) (9814) | |||
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Crossrail gets Treasury backing (was Re: London's five-year plan) |
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Posted by David Fairthorne on Sun Oct 17 00:51:11 2004, in response to Re: London's five-year plan, posted by Fytton on Tue Oct 12 11:32:17 2004. Breaking news: two new reports on Crossrail funding.From Reuters: Government to bankroll London Crossrail - report Sun 17 October, 2004 01:44 LONDON (Reuters) - The government will underwrite the entire 10 billion pound cost of CrossRail, a new underground rail link planned for London, The Independent on Sunday has reported. "It will be publicly funded and publicly cliented," a 'well-placed source' was quoted as saying in the newspaper. In July, the government insisted that the cost of the CrossRail project, a planned underground railway linking east and west London, could not be met solely, or even largely, by taxpayers. Crossrail is considered an important part of London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics, but analysts say it is highly unlikely to be completed by then. Companies in the City of London, the capital's financial heart, have warned they may move without a drastic improvement to transport links. From The Independent: Treasury to bankroll Crossrail By Jason Nissé 17 October 2004 The Treasury is to underwrite the entire £12bn cost of the Crossrail project to build a rail link across London after deciding it will not be a public-private partnership. Though it will look for contributions of up to £2bn from London businesses and input from Transport for London, the Treasury has accepted that the PPP model will not work for the giant project. Crossrail was created as a joint venture between the Strategic Rail Authority and TfL, which is part of the London Mayor's office. However, since then it has been approved by the Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, and plans have been announced to abolish the SRA. The Treasury and the Department for Transport last week moved to assert their control over the project, appointing financial troubleshooter Adrian Montague as chairman. Mr Montague wrote the report that led the Government to back the project. The Treasury, TfL and London business leaders are working on a funding package but it is understood that a rise in fares has been ruled out. Higher business rates may be used but that is unlikely to raise more than £2bn. Civil servants have persuaded the Treasury to keep the project under public control to minimise costs. "It will be publicly funded and publicly cliented," said a well-placed source. |
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