§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all the projects considered for the private finance initiative since it began in his Department, indicating in each case whether or not it has proceeded and the public and private financial input in each case. [41328]
§ Mr. WattsAll projects for which the Department is responsible are considered for procurement through the private finance initiative. Information on those that have proceeded to date is included in the Department's publication "Building Tomorrow's Transport Network", copies of which are in the Library, and in my answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Betts) on 28 June 1995,Official Report, column 672–73. Funding for line 1 of Midland Metro has since been approved: the total value of the project is estimated to be £145 million of which the private sector is contributing £11.5 million. Bids for the WCML modernisation signalling programme are being evaluated by Railtrack and the contract will be let before the end of the financial year.