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Mayor wins control of Crossrail project
Joe Murphy, Political Editor26 Nov 2007
Ken Livingstone won control of Crossrail as the scheme was put on track for building to start in 2010.
Transport for London, headed by the Mayor, is to become 100 per cent owner of the company set up to deliver the project.
The deal is set out in heads of terms published by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly today, with new details of the £16billion funding package and management agreements. Her announcement cleared the biggest remaining hurdles to the east-west rail route to be opened in 2017 after more than two decades of frustration and delay.
Mr Livingstone and Ms Kelly will become co-sponsors of the project - a carve-up that will dismay London business leaders who had been pressing for an equal partnership in the construction project to reflect the one-third share of the cost being taken from the private sector.
However, in a move aimed at reassuring City chiefs, four senior businessmen will be appointed as independent non-executive directors of the delivery company, Cross London Rail Links. Ms Kelly wants them to be world-class figures with experience in delivering immense construction works on time and within budget. She was writing to the London Business Board, inviting it to suggest names.
In the Commons, Ms Kelly was also spelling out details of funding arrangements. Her department will contribute more than £5billion in grants - and will shoulder responsibility for squeezing cash contributions from the City Corporation and BAA.
Altogether, the Government is guaranteeing £5.6 billion of the cost, implying that it will ensure the money is delivered even if talks over the City contribution break down in future. The Mayor, through TfL and the Greater London Authority, will raise up to £7.7billion, using a combination of borrowing on the back of the future revenues from the business levy and fares, plus other sources.
Developers building close to the line will be among those ordered to pay towards the construction. Legislation will be passed to give TfL new powers to raise the money.
Ministers say they are confident that the £15.9 billion budget is enough. But if TfL fails to keep on track or defaults on agreements with the Government, the project will return to Whitehall ownership.
Reader views (1)
Re. The Crossrail project - "Ms Kelly wants ... world-class figures with experience in delivering immense construction works on time and within budget".
Surely she has to look no further than the people who brought the new Cross-Channel rail link into St Pancras, without fuss, on time and within budget.
And, by the way, what is the London Business Board, how is it constituted, and who are its members?
Offering advice on how to spend £15.9 billion carries a lot of responsibility and requires much - this week's overused word - 'transparency'.
- Mike Young, London, England, 02/12/2007 20:57
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