Les LGV Bordeaux-Toulouse et Bordeaux-Dax, une « nécessité » à 14 milliards d’euros qui ne fait pas l’unanimité en Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Time is running out for Alain Rousset, the president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional council. On December 13, at the next plenary meeting of the community, it will have to adopt the financing plan for the LGV lines between Bordeaux and Toulouse and Bordeaux and Dax (Landes), the cost of which amounts to 14.3 billion d euros (€ bn).
A project funded 40% by the State (4.1 billion euros), 40% by the local authorities of Occitanie and New Aquitaine and 20% by Europe (even 30 to 40% if the EU recognizes its cross-border character).
“Simultaneity” of the two planned lines
Relaunched a few weeks ago by Jean Castex, the Grand Projet du Sud Ouest (GPSO) has two components: the Bordeaux-Toulouse link (€ 10.3 billion) and the Bordeaux-Dax link (€ 4 billion), (with prospect of a junction with Spain) for which Alain Rousset wants “simultaneity”.
If in Occitania Carole Delga, the President of the Region, seems to have found a consensus with elected officials in order to collect € 2.2 billion (after deduction of tax revenue of € 900 million), the challenge is not the same for Alain Rousset, which must bring together € 1.8 billion (after deduction of € 800 million in tax resources) with the local authorities of Gironde, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Lot-et-Garonne.
Communities dragging their feet to check out
And some elected officials are dragging their feet to go to the cash register like the president of the departmental council of Lot-et-Garonne, the president of the agglomeration of Agen (Lot-et-Garonne), Jean Dionis du Séjour, in addition regional councilor, or the president PS of the departmental council of the Gironde allied with the ecologists.
It will also be necessary to convince the ecologist Pierre Hurmic, mayor of Bordeaux or the elected officials of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. What about those in the Landes who have still not paid the € 40 million in funding promised as part of the Tours-Bordeaux section? So nothing is done.
“Historical”
Monday, during the plenary meeting of the Regional Council, Alain Rousset wished to make a communication around this subject “historical, a necessity” and let each group express itself.
On the side of the National Rally, Jacques Colombier believes that “the State must contribute more strongly”.
An opinion by Frédéric Mellier (PCF) who believes that “the State is making our pockets” and who took the opportunity to demand “an upgrade of the Paris-Orléans-Limoges-Toulouse line”.
For Jean Dionis du Sejour, “the importance of the GPSO is indisputable, but the financing plan must be reviewed. Agen will pay three times: through its agglomeration, the Departmental Council and the Region. Why ? “.
For Christophe Duprat, elected LR, and mayor of Saint-Aubin-du-Médoc (Gironde), “there is no choice. We need two branches. And it will be necessary to extend that of Dax to Spain. We must convince and promote the general interest ”.
“Useless, destructive and costly”
Since its entry into service 4 years ago, the Paris-Bordeaux line, frequentation of the TGV, TER and Intercités on the Atlantic corridor is higher than estimates with 3.8 million TGV passengers per year against 2.6 at 3, 5 expected.
As for elected environmentalists, they are fiercely opposed to the project. “GPSO is unnecessary, destructive and expensive. It goes against the grain of history. There is no doubt that the Tours-Bordeaux TGV has not reduced the number of trucks on the A10 ”.
For Christine Seguinau, “we have to modernize the existing lines”.
As if to push a little deeper into the corner already struck by Alain Rousset, Renaud Lagrave, vice-president in charge of transport, considered that “we are working for young people and the future of this region”.
See you on December 13. By then, there will have been many backstage negotiations. Will they have advanced enough to meet the timetable set by the State?
The time saved to get to Toulouse would be one hour and that for Dax from 20 to 30 minutes. According to Alain Rousset, the construction of a new track to the south is essential in order to provide other rail services.
Olivier Chapperon