EU risking billions of euros on ‘unviable transport projects’

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The comment came after the Commission last month proposed that the EU could guarantee part of the debt of priority cross-border transport infrastructure projects. The proposal is part of efforts to stimulate private investment in transport projects belong to the trans-European network (TEN).

T&E director Jos Dings said: “Private investment tends to sniff out viable investments, so reducing the risks to private capital runs the risk of fast-tracking unviable projects.”

T&E’s policy officer Markus Liechti said the billions of euros being sought for transport projects made it more important than ever to ensure projects were properly assessed, yet the cost/benefit reports into such schemes were still kept secret. “We need to see more double-checks and no more blank cheques,” he said.

A draft regulation on how to finance the transport TENs is currently making its way through the EU legislative process, with a final decision expected in the summer of 2006.

This news story is taken from the April 2005 edition of T&E Bulletin.