Still no Chunnel decision
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• The critical factor in progress on the Channel tunnel at present is the choice of a private group to arrange the financing and construction, the Minister of Transport told the Channel Tunnel Parliamentary Group on Monday. Admitting that there had been delay, Mr. Marsh said that proposals submitted separately by the three interested groups were not acceptable in their present form; they had been asked to make further proposals.
The Minister said the lack of choice at this stage was not a reflection on the abilities of the groups: everyone was faced with a problem for which there was no comparison in past experience. He said that when a financing group had been chosen there would be further studies under the supervision of the British and French governments, And he stressed that these studies would not be a commitment to build the tunnel. The final decision on whether to build or not must depend on new estimates of cost, traffic and revenue, since the traffic and revenue estimates were now over three years old.