Examination of Witnesses (Questions 60
- 64)
WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2007
MR CHRIS
BOLT
Q60 Chairman: I am not saying that
they were not asking for five times more, I am saying that the
range you have come back to is still, even though you said, "Knock
it off, lads, you are pushing for too much," or whatever
the arbitrator's language is for that sort of phrase, you still
said it is somewhere between £100 million and nearly £500
million?
Mr Bolt: Yes, and that was on
the basis of initial work. I have now had, as I explained earlier,
the further submissions from Metronet and London Underground and
on 12 November I will publish a number for the efficient cost
overrun, a single number.
Q61 Chairman: We will have to wait
in some suspense until that moment!
Mr Bolt: I am afraid you will.
Q62 Clive Efford: I just want to
ask one last question. You have said that had you been allowed
to go ahead with your independent review in 2005 you may have
been able to highlight the problems earlier. How early in the
contracts were you aware that there were difficulties?
Mr Bolt: I was aware that there
were issues about delivery pretty early on, because one of the
bits of information my office gets is delivery of the stations
programme and you could see that slipping. What I was not aware
of was the scale of the cost overrun until I carried out the 2006
Annual Report.
Q63 Clive Efford: So has your inability
to actually step in and insist on an independent report at that
stage, when you became aware of those concerns, contributed to
the problem?
Mr Bolt: My view is that had I
carried out the Annual Report in 2005, some of the issues would
have been put on the table -
Q64 Clive Efford: Would you have
been able to do it earlier, had you had that power?
Mr Bolt: We were ready to do it.
I was fully staffed and we had developed the work programme to
carry it out.
Chairman: As always, Mr Bolt, you have
been very instructive. We are always very impressed with your
use of language. It does not always convey exactly what we would
like, but I think we have got there. Thank you very much for coming.
We look forward to seeing your report.
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