Channel span proposals

Press, 2 November 1985, Page 10

Channel span proposals

NZPA-Reuter London Britain and France face a choice of up to 12 projects to build a fixed link across the Channel. When the deadline for applications passed yesterday nine proposals had been submitted in London and three in Paris but it was not clear if any had been handed over in both capitals. A decision is due early next year and a target completion date set for the mid-1990s for a bridge or tunnel between Britain and Europe. The British Transport Secretary, Mr Nicholas Ridley, said yesterday that all proposals which complied with, guidelines, including a deposit of £175,000

($431,739) in each country, would receive a fair hearing. The idea of a link across the channel, first put in 1802 by Napoleon, has the backing of the British Prime, Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, and the French President, Mr Francois Mitterrand as long as neither Government has to pay for it. Two Anglo-French consortia, the Channel Tunnel Group and Euroroute, have made the most prominent submissions; The Channel Tunnel Group proposes a £2.3 billion ($5.67 billion) 50km twin tunnel with a fast rail shuttle between Folkestone and Calais. Euroroute, the backers of

which include Barclays Bank, proposes a £5.2 billion ($12.82 billion) rail and road link with bridges, artificial islands, and a 21km tunnel. Other submissions have been made by the Sea Containers shipping conglomerate, groups known as Eurobridge and Eurolink and a company called A.D. Developments. One bid was tagged “Les Ponts sur la Manche” (Bridges over the Channel). Sea Containers, owner of the British ferry group, Sealink, which had actively campaigned against a fixed link, said it was making its bid after recognising the degree of political impetus now behind the project.