Comments come as IPA boss said he told Highways England to rethink timetable for 拢8bn Lower Thames Crossing
One of the government鈥檚 most senior infrastructure advisors has pointed the finger of blame at ministers for causing cost overruns and delays to some of the UK鈥檚 largest infrastructure projects.
Chief executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority Nick Smallwood said that vague objectives and a lack of discipline within government departments had led to challenges in delivering public mega-projects on time and on budget.
Smallwood told the Public Accounts Committee yesterday: 鈥淚 think ministers and departments love to keep options open. We introduce a lot of change without discipline controls and late changes can kill a project.鈥�
He said 鈥渁ll too often鈥� departments develop two or three options when developing an outline business case for major projects, leading to a lack of 鈥渧igour鈥� on the preferred option with choices on what the actual intended outcome of a project is being made too late.
A commission on expanding UK airport capacity was set up in 2012, recommending more than five years ago that a third runway be built at Heathrow airport. But work at the scheme has since ground to a halt because of lukewarm government support, a legal ruling and the impact on the aviation industry caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Smallwood鈥檚 comments come two weeks after Highways England pulled the planning application for the 拢8bn Lower Thames Crossing, a project to build two 4.2km road tunnels beneath the Thames connecting Essex and Kent to reduce traffic on the Dartford Crossing.
Once built, the two 16m wide tunnels will have the largest diameter of any in Europe and will be the third largest in the world, accommodating three lanes of traffic with a 70mph speed limit.
But Smallwood said the IPA had refused to support the outline business case for the project, telling Highways England its delivery schedule was 鈥渦nachievable鈥� and that it needed 鈥渁 much stronger governance model鈥�.
He added: 鈥淵es it鈥檚 still an ambitious project, yes it still has some challenges, but they鈥檝e gone away and thought long and hard and actually addressed the very issues that will get them outline business case support to proceed.鈥�
Smallwood warned other schemes which had not bottomed out their business cases to expect similar action. 鈥淸We are] getting a very strong mandate from number 10 and the chancellor to work with the Treasury and quite frankly not fund and support those projects that are not in a fit condition to proceed.鈥�
Asked by Labour MP Nick Smith why projects like Crossrail had been so challenging to deliver, IPA deputy chief executive Matthew Vickerstaff said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e spent a lot of time reflecting on this. Undoubtedly, there is an increasing challenge around systems integration.鈥�
He added: 鈥淭his is not just economic infrastructure but also rail projects, signalling systems and how those are integrated, especially when you鈥檙e running three services at the same time, overland, underground and then perhaps a new system like Crossrail.
He said the same was true of hospital construction and defence projects, and that the problem was a symptom of how projects and systems had evolved over time.
鈥淚f you take Crossrail, historically probably 20 years ago people would have been concerned about ground conditions and tunnelling risk but actually the systems integration is equally problematic and needs a very strong focus.鈥�
The comments echo those made by Crossrail chairman Tony Meggs in September, who said that major projects like Crossrail should be thought of as 鈥渃omplex system integration projects鈥� rather than civil engineering jobs.
Jacobs, which has been appointed to oversee the 拢19bn project, warned yesterday that the railway could face further delays because of a slowdown in spending. Originally scheduled to open in 2018, it is now not due to open before the first half of 2022, with trial running at the central section鈥檚 problem Bond Street station still yet to start.
No comments yet