Thursday, Nov 06, 2008
Cost-cutting TfL axes seven infrastructure projects
contract journal: Cost-cutting TfL axes seven infrastructure projects
Seven major infrastructure projects will be cut as Transport for London (TfL) tries to save Ł2.4bn to pump back into the Tube.
Construction of a new Thames Gateway Bridge, extensions to Croydon’s Tramlink and the mythical Oxford Street tram will all go in favour of increasing capacity on the tube by 30%.
Unveiling TfL’s 10 year business plan, London mayor Boris Johnson said the projects, all of which are still in design stages, were not being “scrapped” but “let go” because they lacked funding for completion.
“I have not nicked, axed or whacked any scheme,” he said.
“I just won’t continue to waste our money, and taxpayer’s money, on consultants and planners [working]… on schemes [that are] either impractical or that simply do not have enough funding.
6 Comments
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1. stillthinking said...
I too have decided to axe a project I was going to pay for by withholding tax revenue. I was going to build a large mound of earth to stand on and lord it over others, and keep my tax bill instead of giving it to Brown.
However, as things are serious. I have sadly cancelled this project. I decided I couldn't in all honesty waste my own money.
2. Fjcruiser said...
about time.
3. planning4acrash said...
These projects cost a fraction of the banker bailout and could have helped get London moving. No return to the New Deal economics then of the 1930's. Welcome to neo-serfdom policies of the noughties.
4. Dbc Reed said...
Transport infrastructure projects can be made self-financing by LVT: a soon as the rumour gets out that a scheme is in the offing, land values start going up and the tax soon starts to recoup the cost of building. Don Riley, a property speculator, worked out that the Jubilee Line extension put up land values by three times more than it cost to build and spilt the beans in his book" Taken for a ride".Even Tories like Steve Norris think LVT to finance Crossrail is a"no-brainer" if it makes the difference between it being built or not.
5. planning4acrash said...
Oh, and, refurbishment of Parliament Sq is being avoided to avoid protests. Maybe, just maybe, the economy is so bad, that the transport system simply doesn't require additional capacity? The Olympics really are a misnomer.
6. Fjcruiser said...
1,000 consultants ?