HS2 bidding process to be opened up to Chinese companies

George Osborne to open competition at event in Chengdu aimed at wooing Chinese investors to back high speed link and other UK infrastructure projects

George Osborne will open up the bidding process to build HS2 to Chinese firms and investors on Thursday, offering contracts worth £11.8bn to build the high-speed rail line.

He will open the competition at an event in Chengdu aimed at wooing Chinese investors to back HS2 and other major UK infrastructure projects, particularly across the north of England.

The seven rail contracts are to build tunnels and track beds for the first phase of HS2 linking London and Birmingham, and the Treasury will encourage British and Chinese firms to partner and bid jointly for the work.

The contracts cover the first of three tranches of construction, with stations and railway systems to follow, although the government has a theoretical target price for building the first phase of £16.3bn at 2011 prices. The full HS2 network has a budget of £42.9bn but the government is expected to issue an updated price figure in the autumn – a sum that will increase Osborne’s desire to see private investment in the line.

Anti-HS2 campaigners criticised the launch of bidding before the high-speed line bill had passed through parliament, but HS2 said no construction would take place before 2017, when the bill would have royal assent.




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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/24/hs2-bidding-process-opened-up-chinese-companies


Making sure that other countries make the money out of it.