Post by account_disabled on Feb 22, 2024 2:35:03 GMT -5
The expected rise in the headline figure comes as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are considering further major cuts to HS2 to reduce the project's rising cost. HS2 was intended to speed passengers between London and northern cities, including Manchester. But now ministers and officials are refusing to guarantee the line will be built beyond Birmingham, undermining the most visible symbol of the government's promise to "level up" Britain's regions. Sunak's review of the plan comes after more than a decade of budget overruns, delays, contract fiascos and management failures. An internal report last year found HS2 was struggling to control costs in the initial London to Birmingham phase, construction of which began.
The heart of Sunak's dilemma is a question that has always dogged HS2: would tens of billions of pounds of future spending be better spent on smaller capital projects, for example electric car charging Pakistan Phone Number infrastructure? “Rishi is someone who is very focused on money and I don't think he is even remotely happy with the amount being spent on the return project,” said a close ally. In June, rail minister Huw Merriman announced several further delays to the programme, including pausing indefinitely the redevelopment of Euston station, where there is still no finalized plan. At the time he said the cost of HS2 was in 2019 values and the Treasury would update the price to take into account “significant inflation”. Treasury officials say the complex calculation may not be completed until before the next round of spending, scheduled for next year. HS2's latest estimate for the project in.
Applying inflation to the project brings the total price up to a range of £67bn to £91bn, in current prices, according to Financial Times calculations based on the Bureau's construction output price indices of National Statistics. A person familiar with the process said the FT's estimate was “not unreasonable” as a ballpark figure. But they warned that applying a single index to the headline figure did not take into account the different inflationary pressures on HS2's various input costs. An HS2 spokesperson said the organization was carrying out a “detailed assessment” of inflation, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rescheduling of parts of the project. “This is an enormously complex intersectoral project with a significant useful life. “As such, it is subject to thousands of variables and using a single measure of inflation to calculate costs is not sufficient,” the spokesperson said.
The heart of Sunak's dilemma is a question that has always dogged HS2: would tens of billions of pounds of future spending be better spent on smaller capital projects, for example electric car charging Pakistan Phone Number infrastructure? “Rishi is someone who is very focused on money and I don't think he is even remotely happy with the amount being spent on the return project,” said a close ally. In June, rail minister Huw Merriman announced several further delays to the programme, including pausing indefinitely the redevelopment of Euston station, where there is still no finalized plan. At the time he said the cost of HS2 was in 2019 values and the Treasury would update the price to take into account “significant inflation”. Treasury officials say the complex calculation may not be completed until before the next round of spending, scheduled for next year. HS2's latest estimate for the project in.
Applying inflation to the project brings the total price up to a range of £67bn to £91bn, in current prices, according to Financial Times calculations based on the Bureau's construction output price indices of National Statistics. A person familiar with the process said the FT's estimate was “not unreasonable” as a ballpark figure. But they warned that applying a single index to the headline figure did not take into account the different inflationary pressures on HS2's various input costs. An HS2 spokesperson said the organization was carrying out a “detailed assessment” of inflation, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rescheduling of parts of the project. “This is an enormously complex intersectoral project with a significant useful life. “As such, it is subject to thousands of variables and using a single measure of inflation to calculate costs is not sufficient,” the spokesperson said.