| Brenner Base Tunnel: Start of Construction by 2011? |
| Written by KS |
| Monday, 05 July 2010 07:00 |
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The EU is pushing the Austrian and Italian governments to make binding decisions concerning the Brenner Base Tunnel project as soon as possible. Pat Cox, who has recently been appointed one of the three new coordinators for the Trans-European Transport Network and is now responsible for the Berlin – Palermo railway axis, pointed out that the Brenner Base Tunnel is among the EU’s top priority projects. He said that the EU will provide about 1 billion euros in funding, adding that construction works should commence in 2011 at the latest. Doris Bures, Austria’s Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, had previously announced that all road and railway projects are being evaluated in order to find out whether they can be funded. This evaluation will be completed in autumn and then the Austrian Council of Ministers is supposed to decide on the major part of the project. Italy’s government has already decided that it wants to build the tunnel. However, the country’s share of the financing of the project has yet to be guaranteed. According to the plans, the tunnel, which will cost about 9 billion euros, should be finished by 2025. But there have been rumours that the project will be abandoned or delayed. For example, the opposition parties in the Tyrolean State Parliament are still against the project. Source: WienerZeitung.at, 17 June 2010 http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3924&Alias=wzo&cob=501380
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