Uk deputy prime minister, John Prescott, has revealed that the UK government will be injecting $827m into London’s decrepit Underground system.
The government’s financial support has become all the more vital because of delays in the implementation of the Public Private Partnership investment plan for the system. Prescott was reported in the UK construction press recently as saying that the funding would provide "improved reliability and ride quality."
The funding will be spent by 2001. Figures released by the government’s Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions show UK infrastructure spending had dropped 3% in the first half of 1999 compared to the same period in 1998. This is seen as largely due to the letting of the initial CTRL contracts in 1998.
