§ Mr. LeightonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the expenditure of his Department in the London Docklands development corporation area since 1981; and what is in prospect.
§ Mr. David MitchellCapital expenditure to date on the docklands light railway amounts to some £140 million for the initial railway and extend it to the City. Completion of the upgrading and the City extension and construction of the eastern extension to Beckton, a Bill for which is currently before the House. will cost in excess of £250 million. Olympia and York Canary wharf is contributing £68 million to the cost of the City extension and upgrading. The London Docklands development corporation paid for half the cost of the initial railway and will be meeting the whole cost of the eastern extension from increases in land values accruing as a result of the construction of the extension.
London Regional Transport has spent some £6 million since 1981 on improvements to the underground in the London Docklands development corporation area.
Docklands is also benefiting from the £10.5 million which British Rail has invested on electrification and station improvements to the north London line.
Since 1981 my Department has spent nearly £170 million on road projects of relevance to docklands now completed: the A406 South Woodford to Barking relief road; the A2 Rochester Way relief road and the A13/A117 tidal flow. Other trunk road schemes in the Department's programme, including improvements to the A 13 in docklands, will involve expenditure of some £470 million by the mid-1990s.