The Government and the Mayor of London have promoted Crossrail as a London-wide public transport scheme even though it primarily benefits the City by linking it to Canary Wharf and Heathrow although this allows it to use taxpayers money. The scheme will harm poor areas across London where the promoters are seeking powers to compulsory purchase land for the purposes of what is now called DD (Destructive Development). A process where the demographic is changed from communities to either offices or luxury accommodation with tokens of affordable housing. Poor areas have been earmarked for harmful worksites that will lead to noise, dust and air pollution during the demolition and removal of thousands of cubic metres of rubble.

There are many questions about awarding the contract for Crossrail to controversial Iraq war and George W Bush linked company Bechtel. However, there are also questions about the Government and so-called elected representatives such as John Biggs, who was holding meetings with Bechtel in 2004.
The contract was ostensibly awarded from six finalists but the European Union needs to scrutinise how fair the contract was given the conflicts of interest given former Bechtel director John Carter was appointed to the Crossrail board and the Government had asked Bechtel to look into the feasibility of Crossrail back in 1993?

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From transcript
John Biggs (AM): “That leads into a simple question about the role of strategic governance and national Government in co-ordinating these projects. I think you are recognising that there is a capacity issue for major civil engineering projects. Maybe you can shed some light on this, but my understanding is that as far as the Mayor is concerned Crossrail is at the top of his queue of schemes to be funded and built. Consequently, as and when Thameslink 2000 is re-born (possibly as another version of Crossrail) that will have to take its place somewhere else in that queue, but Crossrail is at the top of the queue in terms of project priority. It is not as if there are monkeys with typewriters building things all over the country; I understand there is a context in which we programme and anticipate other demands for labour. How does your team fit into that? Do you talk to the Channel Tunnel people? Do you talk to Network Rail about the fact they may have to hesitate on Thameslink 2000, which they have done already for four years?

Norman Haste, CLRL: We talk to Network Rail, we talk to Channel Tunnel Rail Link, we talk to the trade unions in the construction industry and to the major contractors who are involved, and not just those involved in transport projects but in all sorts of different projects because the pool of technical skills as well as labour is not unlimited. I have also talked to the people I know very well in Europe, but we have not looked beyond Europe other than to the United States, where it is well known that there is a wealth of project management expertise.

John Biggs (AM): I recently attended a meeting with Bechtel where they made this very same point. I think this is a job the committee could perhaps take a view on. Who do you think is responsible for making sure that these projects are co-ordinated so that they do not run against each other and bid up wages and stop projects from being delivered?
See url
 http://www.romfordcag.co.uk/Issued%20Material/appendix1_220704.html


Was the appointment of US and George W Bush linked company Bechtel linked to John Carter who was hired on to the board of directors at Crossrail ? Bechtel were consultants on how public sector money would be used for Crossrail in 1993.

Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 26 May 1993
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Mr. Peter Shore : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what conclusions were reached by Schroeders and Warburgs in its advice to his Department on the prospects of a private sector contribution towards crossrail ; what form this contribution is expected to take ; and if he will make available details of the financing of the project before 8 June.

Mr. Norris : Our consultants, Warburgs and Bechtel, both concluded that crossrail is a project that the private sector will find attractive. The basis on which the private sector would contribute to the cost of the project will not be settled by 8 June.  http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1993-05-26/Writtens-1.html

Note: the Government commissioned reports from the merchant bank S.G. Warburg and engineering consultants Bechtel into the financial and engineering viability of the scheme as stated in The Crossrail Bill Paper 1 June 2005. See url  http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:tkEs0tvJjlQJ:www.children1st.org.uk/cgi-bin/user/children1st/betsie.pl/0005/www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/rp05-038.pdf

The constitution of the Cross London Rail Links company is being strengthened ahead of introduction to Parliament of the Bill seeking the powers required to build the £10 billion Crossrail project across Greater London. The project is now defined as a joint venture between the Department for Transport and Transport for London. The current chairman Sir Christopher Benson is departing from the board and his place will be taken by Adrian Montague who was leader of the Crossrail Review team.

He is giving up the deputy chairmanship of network rail but remains chairman of British Energy and of Michael Page International.

Announcing the changes, the Transport Secretary of State Alistair Darling said that the new chairman will have decisive new powers to move the project forward.

An important change in the chairman's status is provision for a casting vote to provide clarity and give him the final say in the case of disagreements between the two shareholders.

Mr Montague's appointment will be 'pro bono' [unpaid] until the end of March next year, by which time the hybrid Bill is expected to have been presented to Parliament.

The restructuring also provides scope for the appointment of three new directors: Tim Thirwell, a former managing director of Mott Macdonald, Mike Fuhr, major projects director at the Department for Transport, and John Carter, previously a member of Bechtel Group's senior executive management team.

This last appointment is significant in the light of the recent comment by Norman Haste, the Crossrail chief executive, that United States companies will probably take the lead role in managing the £10 billion project.

Mr Carter is a member of the board of directors of Northwest natural gas Company and London and Continental Railways, promoters of the channel tunnel Rail Link in which Bechtel is playing a key construction management role.

Three existing directors appointed by Transport for London remain in place on the Crossrail board: they are Bob Kiley, London's Transport Commissioner, Jay Walder, TfL's managing director for finance and planning, and Ian Brown, managing director of TfL's Rail Directorate and chairman of the Docklands Light Railway.

On the restructuring itself, Norman Haste said that the appointment of Adrian Montague as chairman of the company showed the importance of the Crossrail project in the Government's plans to bring lasting improvements to transport in the Greater London region.

He added: "We now have a good strong team to go for the final push to get the Bill into Parliament and begin the scrutiny process."

The second round of the Crossrail consultation process which commenced in August will come to a close on 2004-10-27.

In addition to the opening of two information exchanges, two-day roadshows were held at 26 points along the proposed route of the railway.
 http://www.buildingtalk.com/news/tch/tch147.html


News Release from: Chartered Institute of Building [CIOB]
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial Team on 6 January 2006

Bechtel selected to manage Crossrail development
Bechtel leads development team to produce reference design for building Crossrail.

Building Talk

Bechtel has been selected to manage development of Crossrail. The company's civil business unit is to work with Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), the joint venture between Transport for London and the Department for Transport. Bechtel will manage a team of design and cost consultants commissioned to produce a reference design for construction of the line, powers for which are being sought in a hybrid Bill now before Parliament.

CLRL officials said that Bechtel was chosen from six finalists following a rigorous selection and procurement process which included notification in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Keith Berryman, acting chief executive with CLRL, spoke of Bechtel as an internationally renowned company with direct experience in schemes of this stature and a reputation for delivery.

Mike Adams, president of Bechtel's civil business unit, said they were looking forward to using their experience in delivering major rail infrastructure projects in the UK and ensure the final Crossrail scheme is one of which London can be proud.

Bechtel's appointment is another step in the coordinated plan to bring the railway project to fruition and part of the usual process with a large infrastructure project.

Further advisor appointments are to be made during the year.

This work will run concurrently with examination of the Crossrail Bill by the recently appointed Select Committee of the House of Commons.

They have a daunting task ahead of them, with 358 petitions submitted against the proposals in the Bill.

Not all of them raise major issues but if the Government does not modify its attitude to compulsory acquisition of high-value sites in the heart of London it is likely that the Parliamentary battle will be long and hard fought

 http://www.buildingtalk.com/news/cte/cte112.html


Bechtel has been awared (change) The award of the biggest contract, potentially worth $680m (£415m), to the Bechtel conglomerate is the most controversial. Bechtel has close ties to the Bush administration, making big donations to the Republican party and its candidates. Under President Bush the vice-president of Bechtel, Jack Sheehan, has a place on the Pentagon's defence policy board, and its chairman, Riley Bechtel, was appointed to the president's export council. Its contract for Iraq covers work on power stations, electricity grids and water and sewerage systems. The company has been trying to play down the significance of the recent revelation that it tried to build a $1bn oil pipeline from Iraq to the Red sea port of Aqaba in Jordan in 1983, at a time when Saddam Hussein was regularly using chemical weapons. It was able to get the current defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to raise the matter with Saddam Hussein and his foreign minister, Tariq Aziz. Mr Rumsfeld was then President Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East.

 http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/after/2003/0523contracts.htm

The private public partnership, or PPP, under which Mr O'Toole runs the underground was masterminded by the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, with backing from the Treasury. Under the scheme, two engineering consortiums, known as the "infracos" - Metronet and Tube Lines - won 30-year contracts worth £15.7bn to modernise the tracks, stations and tunnels, thereby splitting the tube's infrastructure from its operation, by London Underground. The private sector was to pay 25% towards the work, government grants 60% and fares 15%. From the companies' point of view, the deal was almost risk-free and guaranteed them 30 years' work with reviews every seven and a half years.

The contract was so complex that it cost the taxpayer £455m in lawyers' and consultants' expenses just to draw it up.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1418922,00.html