§ Mr. SweeneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has been made in taking forward motorway and trunk road improvement schemes under the private finance initiative. [36997]
187W
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesI have decided that the A55 dualling from Llanfair PG to Holyhead—an important improvement to which my predecessors and I have consistently attached great priority—should be taken forward as a design, build, finance and operate scheme under the private finance initiative. Subject to the satisfactory completion of statutory procedures, I expect construction of the whole of the improvement across the island of Anglesey will commence in autumn 1998, and that the scheme will be completed some three years later at around the same time as would have been the case if the construction had been undertaken by means of conventional procurement.
Preparatory work is continuing on the A465 dualling between Abergavenny and Hirwaun, and the M4 relief road between Magor and Castleton, but it will be some time before decisions are required on the method of procurement. Nevertheless, it is my intention that these schemes should also be pursued as potential design, build, finance and operate contracts.