This page was last edited at 2158 GMT in London on Saturday 9 August 2008
2150 GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008: KHOODEELAAR! told Alistair Darling in early 2005, when he was the ‘Crossrail hole Bill’ promoter ‘Transport Minister’ in the UK House of Commons, that he had misled Parliament by making a statement expressing ‘satisfaction’ that the ‘Crossrail Bill’ [which Darling introduced in the House of Commons on 22 February 2005] was ‘compatible with the Convention’. KHOODEELAAR! has put that question to the Crossrail-plugging UK Department fro Transport [=DfT] in extended details on dozens of occasions since then. The questions being: what is the evidence, what is the basis that the Crossrail, Bill was compatible with the Convention [= The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental freedoms]? The DfT has failed over the past four years to provide the evidence. .This despite the apparent change in the holder of the post of the UK cabinet Minster for Transport [which Post is perversely called ‘Secretary of State’ - a meaningless designation given that the presumed State is being operated in accordance with the agenda of non-State elements like Big Business and Complexes. The reference to ‘Complexes’ here is to ‘Military Industrial complex’ and their institutional, bureaucratic and co-imperialistic corollaries]. We are including both Darling and his successors in post as defendants in the court actions that we are about to file in the UK domestic courts[To be continued]
33rd year AADHIKAR
0225 GMT Thursday 06 June 2013
AADHIKAR Media Foundation Editor © Muhammad Haque
Founding News Editor
Shah M Azizul Haque
AADHIKAR Media Foundation established with the publication of AADHIKAR the weekly on Monday 19 December 1980 from London E1 UK.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'-evidence:Update [19] Timesonline
This page was last edited at 2120 GMT Saturday 9 August 2008
Muhammad Haque's comments as published on Times newspaper web site:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3162445.ece
Referring to Crossrail.
Mr Waller has got some of it right about the CRASS rail project. It is curious that he is almost wishing Crossrail in its presently planned form to be constructed. That is a departure from what he wrote in September 2007.
It must for the records be pointed out whenever the CrossRail hole scam is mentioned, that neither House of the UK Parliament is being [or has been so far] allowed to hear the arguments or see the available evidence against the scheme.
This is why the Khoodeelaar! campaign against the Crossrai hole Bill is making constitutional law representations this month seeking to have ALL known evidence against Crossrail to be allowed to be presented before and constitutionally fully examined by the UK House of Lords 'committee' on the 'Crossrail Bill'.
We are arguing that denial of these is contrary to the UK’s constitutional obligations under the ECHR. Lest it be said that the ECHR Conventions [referred to as ‘the Convention’] is not central
Muhammad Haque, London, UK
Referring to Crossrail. Mr Waller has got some of it right about the CRASS rail project. It is curious that he is almost wishing Crossrail in its presently planned form to be constructed. That is a departure from what he wrote in September 2007.
It must for the records be pointed out whenever the CrossRail hole scam is mentioned, that neither House of the UK Parliament is being [or has been so far] allowed to hear the arguments or see the available evidence against the scheme.
This is why the Khoodeelaar! campaign against the Crossrai hole Bill is making constitutional law representations this month seeking to have ALL known evidence against Crossrail to be allowed to be presented before and constitutionally fully examined by the UK House of Lords 'committee' on the 'Crossrail Bill'.
We are arguing that denial of these is contrary to the UK’s constitutional obligations under the ECHR. Lest it be said that the ECHR Conventions [referred to as ‘the Convention’] is not central to the domestic UK legislative process, the main promoter of the Crossrail Bill in the House of Commons had to state whether he [Alistair Darling 22 February 2005] was satisfied that the contents of the Bill were compatible with the ‘Conventions’. He [or Ruth Kelly now, as the occupant of the post as the Secretary of State that Alistair Darling held on 22 February 2005] cannot have it both ways.
Either they recognise the substantial constitutional place in the UK that the ‘Contention’ has, or they don’t.
If they do recognise the ‘Convention’ [which is what Darling’s statement of 22 February 2005 shows that they ‘do’ ] then they must do so all the way and stop violating the Convention whenever it suits their unaccountable agenda setters who remain unconstitutionally and undemocratically influential via extra parliamentary agencies and lobbyists. The Crossrail Bill does NOT contain the goodies that its pluggers keep parading, like ‘Lord Bassam of Brighton’ has again done in the Upper Chamber.
The UK Public are entitled to know the truth about the £Billions of public money that is being claimed for the project by its unaccountable agents and promoters. This is the least that is demanded under the democratizing provision that is available in the UK’s treaty obligations relating to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [=ECHR]
Muhammad Haque, London, UK
Muhammad Haque's comments as published on Times newspaper web site:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3162445.ece
Referring to Crossrail.
Mr Waller has got some of it right about the CRASS rail project. It is curious that he is almost wishing Crossrail in its presently planned form to be constructed. That is a departure from what he wrote in September 2007.
It must for the records be pointed out whenever the CrossRail hole scam is mentioned, that neither House of the UK Parliament is being [or has been so far] allowed to hear the arguments or see the available evidence against the scheme.
This is why the Khoodeelaar! campaign against the Crossrai hole Bill is making constitutional law representations this month seeking to have ALL known evidence against Crossrail to be allowed to be presented before and constitutionally fully examined by the UK House of Lords 'committee' on the 'Crossrail Bill'.
We are arguing that denial of these is contrary to the UK’s constitutional obligations under the ECHR. Lest it be said that the ECHR Conventions [referred to as ‘the Convention’] is not central
Muhammad Haque, London, UK
Referring to Crossrail. Mr Waller has got some of it right about the CRASS rail project. It is curious that he is almost wishing Crossrail in its presently planned form to be constructed. That is a departure from what he wrote in September 2007.
It must for the records be pointed out whenever the CrossRail hole scam is mentioned, that neither House of the UK Parliament is being [or has been so far] allowed to hear the arguments or see the available evidence against the scheme.
This is why the Khoodeelaar! campaign against the Crossrai hole Bill is making constitutional law representations this month seeking to have ALL known evidence against Crossrail to be allowed to be presented before and constitutionally fully examined by the UK House of Lords 'committee' on the 'Crossrail Bill'.
We are arguing that denial of these is contrary to the UK’s constitutional obligations under the ECHR. Lest it be said that the ECHR Conventions [referred to as ‘the Convention’] is not central to the domestic UK legislative process, the main promoter of the Crossrail Bill in the House of Commons had to state whether he [Alistair Darling 22 February 2005] was satisfied that the contents of the Bill were compatible with the ‘Conventions’. He [or Ruth Kelly now, as the occupant of the post as the Secretary of State that Alistair Darling held on 22 February 2005] cannot have it both ways.
Either they recognise the substantial constitutional place in the UK that the ‘Contention’ has, or they don’t.
If they do recognise the ‘Convention’ [which is what Darling’s statement of 22 February 2005 shows that they ‘do’ ] then they must do so all the way and stop violating the Convention whenever it suits their unaccountable agenda setters who remain unconstitutionally and undemocratically influential via extra parliamentary agencies and lobbyists. The Crossrail Bill does NOT contain the goodies that its pluggers keep parading, like ‘Lord Bassam of Brighton’ has again done in the Upper Chamber.
The UK Public are entitled to know the truth about the £Billions of public money that is being claimed for the project by its unaccountable agents and promoters. This is the least that is demanded under the democratizing provision that is available in the UK’s treaty obligations relating to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms [=ECHR]
Muhammad Haque, London, UK
This AADHIKARonline page was last edited in London UK at 1900 Hrs GMT on Saturday 9 August 2008:
This AADHIKARonline page was last edited AT 1900 Hrs GMT on Saturday 9 August 2008:
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'-backers:Update [18] the BBC
This AADHIKARonline page was last edited at 1435 Hrs GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008
By©Muhammad Haque
1430 Hrs GMT
London saturday 9 August 2008
The evidence that KHOODEELAAR! is going to cite in the application to court against the London Crossrail hole package and the Crossrail hole agenda and the Crossrail hole plot-peddling abuse of the UK Houses of Parliament includes the conduct of the BBC as a news organisation in falsifying the impact of CRASSrail and in giving persistently falsely inflated importance of CRASSrail.
In particular, the KHOODEELAAR! application to court will cite the behaviour of Andrew Winstanley who lied for the Crossrail hole plot when he filed on the news launch on the EDDINGTON report... Winstanley fabricated a number of paragraphs and stated on air things that clearly asserted that Rod Eddington had been proactively FOR CROSSRAIL.
Yet the fact is, the truth is that neither in the actual contents of the EDDINGTON STUDY nor in any of the internationally published reports on that STUDY is there any such hint. Let alone any such explicit utterance or assertion....
More details will be published on this site and on the associated KHOODEELAAR! web sites and web pages.
[To be continued]
By©Muhammad Haque
1430 Hrs GMT
London saturday 9 August 2008
The evidence that KHOODEELAAR! is going to cite in the application to court against the London Crossrail hole package and the Crossrail hole agenda and the Crossrail hole plot-peddling abuse of the UK Houses of Parliament includes the conduct of the BBC as a news organisation in falsifying the impact of CRASSrail and in giving persistently falsely inflated importance of CRASSrail.
In particular, the KHOODEELAAR! application to court will cite the behaviour of Andrew Winstanley who lied for the Crossrail hole plot when he filed on the news launch on the EDDINGTON report... Winstanley fabricated a number of paragraphs and stated on air things that clearly asserted that Rod Eddington had been proactively FOR CROSSRAIL.
Yet the fact is, the truth is that neither in the actual contents of the EDDINGTON STUDY nor in any of the internationally published reports on that STUDY is there any such hint. Let alone any such explicit utterance or assertion....
More details will be published on this site and on the associated KHOODEELAAR! web sites and web pages.
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'-backers:Update [17] Alistair Darling
1330 GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008:
KHOODEELAAR! Alistair Darling gave an interview that was published by the London Times newspaper. The interview was in the foolish mode adopted by an ill-advised Gordon Brown. The mode is to appear ‘chummy, chatty and almost credible’! Alistair Darling is not credible. Because the man, on the record of his behaviour in office and a member of the Blaired UK Govt cabinet, has been and remains less than honest. Especially on issues like his role in acting as an agent for Big Business CROSSRAIL hole agenda. As he behaved in fronting the CRASSrail agenda being pushed through the UK parliament.
Darling is no darling to truthfulness. He is a stranger...
And KHOODEELAAR! has told him, has been telling him, that he is at the top of the list of those against whom we are about to make the application to [initially, in the first instance] a UK Domestic court.....
Darling could still [at 1345 GMT on S aturday 9 August 2008] avoid being taken to court. He could start a real review of the transport costs and the transport needs in both London and in the rest of the UK. He could suspend the Crossrail Act pending the outcome of an independently objective inquiry into the whole matter......
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! Alistair Darling gave an interview that was published by the London Times newspaper. The interview was in the foolish mode adopted by an ill-advised Gordon Brown. The mode is to appear ‘chummy, chatty and almost credible’! Alistair Darling is not credible. Because the man, on the record of his behaviour in office and a member of the Blaired UK Govt cabinet, has been and remains less than honest. Especially on issues like his role in acting as an agent for Big Business CROSSRAIL hole agenda. As he behaved in fronting the CRASSrail agenda being pushed through the UK parliament.
Darling is no darling to truthfulness. He is a stranger...
And KHOODEELAAR! has told him, has been telling him, that he is at the top of the list of those against whom we are about to make the application to [initially, in the first instance] a UK Domestic court.....
Darling could still [at 1345 GMT on S aturday 9 August 2008] avoid being taken to court. He could start a real review of the transport costs and the transport needs in both London and in the rest of the UK. He could suspend the Crossrail Act pending the outcome of an independently objective inquiry into the whole matter......
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'. Legal action evidence update [16]: The utterances of 'John Biggs' [Who he?]
This page was last edited at 1035 GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'. Legal action evidence update [16]:
The utterances of 'John Biggs'
[Who he?]
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'. Legal action evidence update [16]:
The utterances of 'John Biggs'
[Who he?]
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'. Legal action evidence update [15]: The utterances of 'leading' 'councillors'
This page was last edited at 1030 GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/08/mirror-goes-undercover-to-expose-shocking-nursing-scandal-115875-20688404/
1010 GMT London saturday 9 August 2008: KHOODEELAAR! No to “CRASSly conceived, unaccountable, unaudited Crossrail hole pack...' CAMPAIGN TOLD YOU SO! That accountability is the first thing when it comes to the needs of the public being allowed to be ‘led’ for private Business and profit...... HERE the DAILY MIRROR has published a report today showing that an unaided 'health' private company is operating in Tower Hamlets.. The outfit is also reported in the Mirror investigation report to be linked with some very dangerous, worrying practices by unaccountable and unaudited 'personnel'..... Just like the personnel that are engaged in plugging the unaudited Crossrail hole plot... ...[To be continued]
[To be continued]
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/08/mirror-goes-undercover-to-expose-shocking-nursing-scandal-115875-20688404/
1010 GMT London saturday 9 August 2008: KHOODEELAAR! No to “CRASSly conceived, unaccountable, unaudited Crossrail hole pack...' CAMPAIGN TOLD YOU SO! That accountability is the first thing when it comes to the needs of the public being allowed to be ‘led’ for private Business and profit...... HERE the DAILY MIRROR has published a report today showing that an unaided 'health' private company is operating in Tower Hamlets.. The outfit is also reported in the Mirror investigation report to be linked with some very dangerous, worrying practices by unaccountable and unaudited 'personnel'..... Just like the personnel that are engaged in plugging the unaudited Crossrail hole plot... ...[To be continued]
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! court actions against 'Crossrail hole plot'. Legal action evidence update [14]: The behaviour of the London FT
This page was last edited at 0945 Hrs GMT London Saturday 9 August 2008
By©Muhammad Haque
0920 Hrs GMT
London Saturday 9 August 2008
The following item taken from the 'Financial Times [=FT] web site at approximately 0910 GMT today Saturday 9 August 2008, is a typical example of mainstream UK media lies for Big Business CRASSrail.
The piece is typical in that unlike a truthful factual and impartial news item giving all the key facts without bias, it is loaded, overloaded with bias in favour of the discredited and the untenable scam. This is the lie. The lie by the FT in order to keep up the appearance of ‘Crossrail’ being credible. It is not credible for the simple;e reason that even the key propagandists who had brayed for years for it to be given the ‘go ahead’, are now finding that THEY have to make financial contradictions before it can be ‘constructed’. It is evident from their a ’surprise’ that when they plugged for CRASSrail across London and in the name of London they had NOT ‘thought’ that THEY would have to make any contribution to the cost of its construction... THEY thought that they would benefit in the main while lumbering ordinary, little people in London and in the rest of the UK, with the costs of the CRASSly conceived rail ‘link’. They contrived, typically as they do, that the ordinary people would carry on paying through their nose for the costs of Crossrail which would be paid for in the shape of the UK Govt putting into it the £Billions..... And as the main construction conglomerates would get the huge profits, the fact that the ordinary people would be left losing out did not matter to the CRASSrail promoters... In fact it never matters to Big Business robbing the public. And keeping income disparity going across sectors and sections of society in the UK.
CRASSrail therefore was an openly poverty-creating scheme. Hence the KHOODEELAAR name for it: a scam.
The surprise expressed in the FT item on the BAA [British Airports Authority] hesitating about making £250 Million contribution to the crassrail costs is representative of the equation.
From the brazen Thatcherisation of the formerly ‘nationalised’ industries and facilities to the Blairing destruction of them all, the ideology and the ‘business plan’ [=robbery plan] has always been that while their parliamentary agents and touts would claim to be critical of anything that even remotely sounds like nationalisation, the big Business in fact LOVED nationalised assets. Because when it is pushed into points of crisis, which is what they keep doing every 10 years or so, they can then move in and take it over At next to nothing costs. . And pocket the loot...Under pretexts of emergency rescue and so forth...See the latest financial reports from Northern Rock this week.... The so-called mixed economy experiment in the UK has never been so. It has always been one side, corrupt capitalists never cease plotting to loot the public. With the cover of ‘semi-nationalisation’ serving as the shield from accusations of daylight robbery, Big Business loots the UK public just perfectly. ..... This is the reality. On scrutiny., On evidence. Every day this is discovered, noticed and found... And this continues because there is no real parliament. That there is a fantasy parliament is again proved today [Saturday 9 August 2008] by the same FT doing yet another strange plug for OONA KING! [see the AADHIKARonline file : ‘FT peddles FOUL TUNES for Oona King career’, that follows THIS file during the day today]
The FT’s false and untruthful item about CRASSrail funding deadlock is another illustration of the Big Business Corruption Syndrome which KHOODEELAAR identified and analysed first in 2004 in the context of our emanation daily of the evidence of the mainstream media plugs for and on behalf of Big Business interests plotting forever to rob the public of even bigger chunks of the money and the resource that belonged to the public but was never ever availoable to be applied to meeting the needs of the ordianary public...
This FT piece and behaviour is included in the list of items to be cited by KHOODEELAAR! in the constitutional law acton via UK courts against the unconstitutional behaviour by the promoter in the stooged UK parliament of the crassly conceived 'Crossrail Bill' [given the routine, rubber stamp called 'Royal Assent' dated 22 July 2008. [The rubber stamping of it called 'Royal Assent' takes the package into the list of UK 'Acts of Parliament', also called the 'Statute Book'.]
[To be continued]
The FT item about CRASSrail quoted below from the FT web site:
"
BAA talks on Crossrail in 'final stages'
By Jim Pickard and Bob Sherwood
Published: August 8 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 8 2008 03:00
Talks aimed at pursuading BAA, the airport operator, to put up an estimated £250m towards the new rail link between Heathrow and the City are in their "final stages", according to sources close to the negotiations.
The news emerged as ministers were yesterday forced to deny claims that Crossrail's funding was in doubt, insisting the scheme was proceeding to the planned timetable.
The government is under pressure to finalise a deal with BAA to contribute towards the £16bn project. Agreement was reached in principle last October but now, nearly a year later, the Spanish-owned airport group is still in talks with officials.
"BAA agreed to contribute financially to the Crossrail project in late 2007 as part of our commitment to improving public transport access to Heathrow Airport," the airport operator said yesterday. "We are working with the Department for Transport and Crossrail about our contribution and the final amount will be subject to regulatory approval."
A source close to the discussions said the talks were in their "final stages" and it was a matter of "crossing the Ts and dotting the Is". But another said that BAA's lack of clarification was "unhelpful".
There are also questions over the ability of the City of London Corporation to raise its £350m share of the project, nearly half from companies, in the face of an impending recession. The corporation said yesterday it was still confident of collecting the full sum because it had until 2016 to do so.
The department also needs to finalise a deal with Canary Wharf for its contribution, agreed last year.
The project moved closer last month when the Crossrail Bill won Royal Assent. Its funding includes £5.1bn from the Department for Transport, a further £2.7bn raised as debt and £3.5bn will be raised through a levy on London's businesses. Further billions will come from passenger fares.
Steven Norris, former transport minister and former London mayoral candidate for the Tories, warned yesterday that the project could "slip" given the broader economic downturn. "Don't let anybody believe that there are not some serious question marks over the project," he said.
Theresa Villiers, shadow transport secretary, added that the Crossrail budget only "limped" past the post at the end of last year. "As the economy slows it is up to Gordon Brown to ensure that big firms do not abandon ship as the credit crunch hardens," she said.
Last night the Department for Transport refused to comment on specific negotiations but said there were "absolutely no plans to revise the funding package".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"
By©Muhammad Haque
0920 Hrs GMT
London Saturday 9 August 2008
The following item taken from the 'Financial Times [=FT] web site at approximately 0910 GMT today Saturday 9 August 2008, is a typical example of mainstream UK media lies for Big Business CRASSrail.
The piece is typical in that unlike a truthful factual and impartial news item giving all the key facts without bias, it is loaded, overloaded with bias in favour of the discredited and the untenable scam. This is the lie. The lie by the FT in order to keep up the appearance of ‘Crossrail’ being credible. It is not credible for the simple;e reason that even the key propagandists who had brayed for years for it to be given the ‘go ahead’, are now finding that THEY have to make financial contradictions before it can be ‘constructed’. It is evident from their a ’surprise’ that when they plugged for CRASSrail across London and in the name of London they had NOT ‘thought’ that THEY would have to make any contribution to the cost of its construction... THEY thought that they would benefit in the main while lumbering ordinary, little people in London and in the rest of the UK, with the costs of the CRASSly conceived rail ‘link’. They contrived, typically as they do, that the ordinary people would carry on paying through their nose for the costs of Crossrail which would be paid for in the shape of the UK Govt putting into it the £Billions..... And as the main construction conglomerates would get the huge profits, the fact that the ordinary people would be left losing out did not matter to the CRASSrail promoters... In fact it never matters to Big Business robbing the public. And keeping income disparity going across sectors and sections of society in the UK.
CRASSrail therefore was an openly poverty-creating scheme. Hence the KHOODEELAAR name for it: a scam.
The surprise expressed in the FT item on the BAA [British Airports Authority] hesitating about making £250 Million contribution to the crassrail costs is representative of the equation.
From the brazen Thatcherisation of the formerly ‘nationalised’ industries and facilities to the Blairing destruction of them all, the ideology and the ‘business plan’ [=robbery plan] has always been that while their parliamentary agents and touts would claim to be critical of anything that even remotely sounds like nationalisation, the big Business in fact LOVED nationalised assets. Because when it is pushed into points of crisis, which is what they keep doing every 10 years or so, they can then move in and take it over At next to nothing costs. . And pocket the loot...Under pretexts of emergency rescue and so forth...See the latest financial reports from Northern Rock this week.... The so-called mixed economy experiment in the UK has never been so. It has always been one side, corrupt capitalists never cease plotting to loot the public. With the cover of ‘semi-nationalisation’ serving as the shield from accusations of daylight robbery, Big Business loots the UK public just perfectly. ..... This is the reality. On scrutiny., On evidence. Every day this is discovered, noticed and found... And this continues because there is no real parliament. That there is a fantasy parliament is again proved today [Saturday 9 August 2008] by the same FT doing yet another strange plug for OONA KING! [see the AADHIKARonline file : ‘FT peddles FOUL TUNES for Oona King career’, that follows THIS file during the day today]
The FT’s false and untruthful item about CRASSrail funding deadlock is another illustration of the Big Business Corruption Syndrome which KHOODEELAAR identified and analysed first in 2004 in the context of our emanation daily of the evidence of the mainstream media plugs for and on behalf of Big Business interests plotting forever to rob the public of even bigger chunks of the money and the resource that belonged to the public but was never ever availoable to be applied to meeting the needs of the ordianary public...
This FT piece and behaviour is included in the list of items to be cited by KHOODEELAAR! in the constitutional law acton via UK courts against the unconstitutional behaviour by the promoter in the stooged UK parliament of the crassly conceived 'Crossrail Bill' [given the routine, rubber stamp called 'Royal Assent' dated 22 July 2008. [The rubber stamping of it called 'Royal Assent' takes the package into the list of UK 'Acts of Parliament', also called the 'Statute Book'.]
[To be continued]
The FT item about CRASSrail quoted below from the FT web site:
"
BAA talks on Crossrail in 'final stages'
By Jim Pickard and Bob Sherwood
Published: August 8 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 8 2008 03:00
Talks aimed at pursuading BAA, the airport operator, to put up an estimated £250m towards the new rail link between Heathrow and the City are in their "final stages", according to sources close to the negotiations.
The news emerged as ministers were yesterday forced to deny claims that Crossrail's funding was in doubt, insisting the scheme was proceeding to the planned timetable.
The government is under pressure to finalise a deal with BAA to contribute towards the £16bn project. Agreement was reached in principle last October but now, nearly a year later, the Spanish-owned airport group is still in talks with officials.
"BAA agreed to contribute financially to the Crossrail project in late 2007 as part of our commitment to improving public transport access to Heathrow Airport," the airport operator said yesterday. "We are working with the Department for Transport and Crossrail about our contribution and the final amount will be subject to regulatory approval."
A source close to the discussions said the talks were in their "final stages" and it was a matter of "crossing the Ts and dotting the Is". But another said that BAA's lack of clarification was "unhelpful".
There are also questions over the ability of the City of London Corporation to raise its £350m share of the project, nearly half from companies, in the face of an impending recession. The corporation said yesterday it was still confident of collecting the full sum because it had until 2016 to do so.
The department also needs to finalise a deal with Canary Wharf for its contribution, agreed last year.
The project moved closer last month when the Crossrail Bill won Royal Assent. Its funding includes £5.1bn from the Department for Transport, a further £2.7bn raised as debt and £3.5bn will be raised through a levy on London's businesses. Further billions will come from passenger fares.
Steven Norris, former transport minister and former London mayoral candidate for the Tories, warned yesterday that the project could "slip" given the broader economic downturn. "Don't let anybody believe that there are not some serious question marks over the project," he said.
Theresa Villiers, shadow transport secretary, added that the Crossrail budget only "limped" past the post at the end of last year. "As the economy slows it is up to Gordon Brown to ensure that big firms do not abandon ship as the credit crunch hardens," she said.
Last night the Department for Transport refused to comment on specific negotiations but said there were "absolutely no plans to revise the funding package".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"