Brussels, 27/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - More than half (52.2%) of the 92 Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) infrastructure projects are on schedule for completion on time, according to the mid-term review of the priority projects co-financed by the European Commission under the TEN-T programme 2007-2013, presented on Wednesday 27 October (see EUROPE 10243). Despite the decision to extend the possibility of using EU money by two years, until 2015, the Commission hopes to make savings of €73 million in funding granted for the Fehmarn belt and €44 million on funding for the Seine-Escaut canal. It also proposes to end co-funding of the direct rail line between Brussels and Strasbourg which is facing competition from the high speed train from Paris.
The report, working on the “use it or lose it” principle, will now have to be turned into decisions with legal status. In all, the Commission hopes to make savings of more than €311 million, with the removal (in five cases) or the reduction (in 18 cases) of project funding. The revenue generated will be re-allocated by means of new calls for tender launched as part of the TEN-T work programme. Funding for projects which will not be completed by 2015 will be automatically cancelled. Drafted from information from the member states, the report deems 29 projects credible in terms of structure and financing and likely to be complete by 2015. For this reason, the Commission will give a two-year extension for the use of EU funding, subject to a number of conditions being met before the end of the year. One of these projects is the Lyon-Turin rail link (priority project 6) on condition that France and Italy finalise a bilateral agreement on funding the cross-border section of the project before the end of this year. Italy will also have to begin construction work in the Susa valley by the start of 2011 at the latest. So far, the project has received €671.8 million in funding, but co-funding will be reduced by €9.1 million as a result of delays built up. Similarly, the Fehmarn belt linking Denmark and Germany will lose €73 million of the €338.9 million allocated. Funding for this project will be continued on condition that the environmental impact study is completed. At the request of the countries concerned, the Commission will also reduce funding for linking the rail gauges at the Polish-Lithuanian border. Ten projects have received a conditional extension to 2015 but have had a partial reduction of EU funding imposed. This will affect, for example, the Seine-Escaut canal which will lose more than €44 million out of the €420 million allocated. Other reductions will affect approach track to the South-East Europe high speed rail line (€13.19 million out of €70 million allocated) and the Brenner tunnel (€12 million out of €58 million). Funding was cut from five projects which were not felt to be credible: the Prague-Beroun rail link (€14.5 million), deployment of the ERTMS system on the Czech section of the Dresden-Budapest rail link (€1 million), the Aachen-Oberhausen rail link (€9 million), the Iron Rhine rail link between the port of Antwerp and Germany (€4.45 million) and modernisation of the direct Brussels-Strasbourg rail line (€23.4 million). (A.By./transl.rt)