The public transport scheme for the City:Crossrail - The real cost to taxpayers
notocrossrail | 17.09.2007 10:34
Taxpayers and tube travellers will be forced to pay for the Crossrail project with higher taxes and higher fares even though the scheme only benefits the City and Canary Wharf, which are the richest parts of London. Crossrail will only alleviate overcrowding on the Central Line. This means tube passengers on the Northern, Piccadilly Line, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Victoria Line will not benefit at all. The City propaganda institution funded by GM proponent Lord Sainsbury called Centre for Cities has been busy publicising a business contribution but have not revealed that this money will ring fenced and only for a specific time period. No such protection is given to taxpayers. Instead the City and the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone want Londoners to fund, pay the operational costs and the interest for the £30 bn Crossrail scheme.
The most recent PR on Lies Online also known as Times Online for the funding of the Crossrail scheme is that a third will come from fares, a third will come from taxpayers and a third will come from business. Oddly enough, the business contribution is being negotiated behind closed doors and the proposal is clearly there to protect them from underwriting the scheme or having any other liabilities outside the ring fenced and time-specific contribution. Who is protecting taxpayers?
Claims that a third will be provided by fares do not stack up, as the income from Crossrail will only be £200 million per annum. The maths is easy, the money from business is ring fenced, the money from fares from Crossrail is limited so passengers will face steep rises and taxpayers will be left with a multi-billion-debt burden.
Adrian Montague who has left taxpayers with massive burdens throughout his involvement with private partnership problems is the chairman of Cross London Rail Links Ltd. Montague is a former Linklaters chairman, who was made chairman after he produced an ostensibly independent report on the business case for Crossrail. Montague also led the finance team, which signed the Metronet London Underground Public Private Partnership, which has cost taxpayers billions. This is on top of £109 million paid to consultants and lawyers involved in the part-privatisation of the tube. Metronet, which collapsed in July maintains nine of the twelve Tube lines with a £2 billion black hole in the budget for upgrading the network is now asking for taxpayers to bail out the company.
Claims that a third will be provided by fares do not stack up, as the income from Crossrail will only be £200 million per annum. The maths is easy, the money from business is ring fenced, the money from fares from Crossrail is limited so passengers will face steep rises and taxpayers will be left with a multi-billion-debt burden.
Adrian Montague who has left taxpayers with massive burdens throughout his involvement with private partnership problems is the chairman of Cross London Rail Links Ltd. Montague is a former Linklaters chairman, who was made chairman after he produced an ostensibly independent report on the business case for Crossrail. Montague also led the finance team, which signed the Metronet London Underground Public Private Partnership, which has cost taxpayers billions. This is on top of £109 million paid to consultants and lawyers involved in the part-privatisation of the tube. Metronet, which collapsed in July maintains nine of the twelve Tube lines with a £2 billion black hole in the budget for upgrading the network is now asking for taxpayers to bail out the company.
notocrossrail