Bordeaux-Toulouse high-speed line: the Metropolis undertakes to pay 616 million euros
Through David Saint Sernin
Published on
Thursday October 14, 2021, Toulouse Metropolis confirmed its participation in the financing of the Bordeaux-Toulouse High Speed Line. A project that will bring Toulouse closer to 3:10 from Paris, against 4:10 currently. A project about which we have been talking for two decades and which could take place in 2030-2032 according to the schedule under discussion.
This project, “which is an imperative necessity” according to Toulouse Métropole, will cost 10.3 billion euros financed by the State, up to € 4.1 billion. This sum includes the construction of the LGV Bordeaux-Toulouse branch and that going from Bordeaux to Dax. It is up to the local authorities to find the remaining sum.
Consensus in Occitania
It is on the right track within the communities of Occitanie. The Region has thus undertaken to pay 1.2 billion euros. The Department of Haute-Garonne, for its part, undertakes to finance the project up to 747 million euros.
Thusday, Toulouse Métropole has pledged to pay 616 million euros to carry out the GPSO project (Great South West Railway Project which includes Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Dax).
114 elected officials voted in favor of the deliberation, 13 abstained, 6 voted against. If the deliberation was voted by a majority of elected officials, in the opposition, certain groups expressed the desire that Toulouse Métropole favor investments in favor of daily transport.
Deliberation on the financing of the High Speed Line, @maxletex intervenes: “Is it really a priority to save 30 minutes on a Paris-Toulouse trip, when the inhabitants and inhabitants spend 14 hours a month stuck in the traffic jams of the metropolis? ” #ConseilTM pic.twitter.com/qUIDdhLmCk
– Alternative for a Citizen Metropolis (@GroupeAMC) October 14, 2021
613 million euros over 40 years
This sum of 16 million euros will be 6 paid over 40 years, or the duration of the financial support of the project by the communities.
This sum was not determined at random. It corresponds to the demographic weight of the community for 20%, its financial capacity for 40% and the socio-economic gains that the project will bring it for 40%.
New taxes to lower the bill
“It is a question of initiating a dynamic which is an essential stake for our territory. These are large sums but the impact on this mandate will be limited. It would be limited to a few tens of millions of euros for this mandate then to 13 million euros per one during the next mandate ”, indicates Sacha Briand, Vice-President of Toulouse Métropole in charge of finances, which specifies:
Discussions remain to be finalized. They aim to make it possible to introduce taxes, in particular on offices and a tax on equipment, which will make it possible to reduce the burden on local communities.
The fruit of this work could thus reduce the part of the sum paid by Toulouse Métropole to 506 million euros.
As a reminder, Sicoval (41 million euros), Muretain (56 million euros), five Departments in addition to Haute-Garonne (Haute-Pyrénées, Tarn-et-Garonne, Gers, Lot and Tarn) and six agglomeration communities are the communities that participate in the financing of the LGV in Occitanie.
The Department of Lot-et-Garonne does not want to finance
If the LGV project, and its financing, is now supported unanimously by local authorities, this is not the case for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region.
At our colleagues from La Dépêche du Midi, the president of the Department of Lot-et-Garonne, Sophie Borderie, considers in fact that ”the requested participation, 120 million euros to date, seems quite simply inconceivable. This amount represents the equivalent of the construction of 8 new colleges… ”
She adds: “the raising of a new loan of 120 million would weaken the financial situation of the department and worryingly deteriorate its management rations, in particular debt”.
Jean-Luc Moudenc not worried
This speech does not worry more than that Jean-Luc Moudenc, President of Toulouse Métropole:
“When it was necessary to be at the rendezvous of the realization of the LGV Tours-Bordeaux line, the communities of Occitanie responded by bringing in 300 million euros. I do not imagine that the Aquitains could not be there in their turn. Disagreements in a bloc, here in Aquitaine, must be resolved by this bloc. Today, discussions are ongoing. They are moving more slowly than one would like, but I have no doubt that they will succeed. We have until the end of November to refine this financing plan ”.
The calendar
If the local authorities reach a consensus by the end of November, then everything could go relatively quickly. Jean-Luc Moudenc details:
“The Council of State will examine the financing plan and the statutes of the financial support company that will be created. He will rule on a draft ordinance to create the portage company. This ordinance must be signed by the government no later than April 2022. The route having been recorded, the DUP having been granted and the appeals purged, work could begin in 2024 for commissioning which would take place in 2030-2032. If this schedule is respected, that will be very good ”.
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