Additional written evidence from Antony
Chapman (HSR 51A)
I am writing further to my letter of 15 May, in which
I told you that Alison Munro, Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, had
been unwilling, or possibly unable, to give me the actual cash
cost of building HS2 which would be payable to contractors. Andrew
Tucker, also of HS2 Ltd said the same.
At a recent Consultation Roadshow I came across a
DfT leaflet "Summary of the HS2 Economic Case". This
says, on the front page under the heading The Economic Case for
HS2 (London to West Midlands), "The economic appraisal of
a transport scheme seeks to cover its full economic costs and
full economic benefits, and to quantify these in monetary terms.
In order to compare costs and benefits occurring at different
points in time, our appraisal brings all future year values to
a "Present Value" (PV) in 2009. This is done by adjusting
future year values, discounting at 3.5% for the first 30 years
from 2009 and 3% for the rest of the appraisal period, in order
to reflect the fact that benefits and costs today are valued more
highly than those in the future".
It would therefore appear that what Mrs Munro told
me was incorrect.
It would also mean that the actual figures would
be higher than suggested in my earlier letter.
I hope your Committee will be able to elicit from
Mrs Munro the actual cash cost which would be payable to contractors,
so that the general public may be aware of the true figures.
18 May 2011
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