LGV Bordeaux-Toulouse: “it’s on the right track”, greets the prefect of the Occitanie region
Through Quentin Marais
Published on
” GPSO (Large Southwest Railway Project) is on the right track. “ This is how Etienne Guyot, prefect of the Occitanie region, summarized his progress report on the LGV project between Bordeaux and Toulouse, Saturday, December 18, 2021.
25 communities have spoken
As a reminder, the total cost of the project is 14 billion euros : the State had committed to contribute 40% and Europe 20%. Jean Castex asked local communities to participate 40% as well.
On November 22, Etienne Guyot sent the financing plan for this GPSO to 26 local authorities in Occitanie and New Aquitaine.
Virtually all local authorities have deliberately. 25 out of 26 have spoken. I am delighted that in less than a month, 23 communities have made a financial commitment to the project, to the tune of 5,260 billion euros for the entire project, namely Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Dax . I thank them very much.
Nowadays, two communities refused to participate : the Departmental Council of Lot-et-Garonne, and the Agglomeration Community of Grand Dax. The 26th and last community, namely the Urban Community of the Basque Country, must, for its part, spread.
The prefect welcomes several advances
If Etienne Guyot wanted to thank Carole Delga and Alain Rousset, Presidents of the Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions, he noted an important advance in the project with “the creation of a local financing company, a local public establishment, with skills extended to engineering. ”
At the request of local authorities, “a government amendment to the 2022 finance bill met in place, for the benefit of GPSO, a special equipment tax (TSE) with a return of 24 million euros per year“.
The Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the two regions adopted a motion in support of GPSO. As for the project owner, SNCF Réseau, it will collect tolls due to the circulation of trains on this future line. The principle of the contribution of the tolls collected by the SNCF Réseau to the financing of the infrastructure of GPSO has been acquired.
So there will be global management of the GPSO, by the State, the Local Public Establishment and SNCF Réseau. This will be the subject of tripartite governance, co-chaired by the prefect and the presidents of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie region.
“It’s a logic cost control, of deadline, in an extremely precise way ”, continues the prefect. A steering committee included in the draft ordinance “on the creation of the finance company”, which will, for its part, be managed by the local authorities alone.
In the event of financial difficulties, several solutions will be sought. “The search for savings on a constant schedule, the search for savings preserving the essential functionalities of the project, and the mobilization of fiscal resources”, continues Etienne Guyot. The text of the draft ordinance is “now complete”.
“2.4% of the project remains to be found”
The votes obtained from local authorities, with regard to their share in the financing of GPSO, therefore represent ” € 5.263 billion gross, i.e. 94% of local funding sought, the whole being identified at 5.6 billion, or 40% of 14 billion ”, explains the prefect.
The overall balance to be sought from local authorities is 336.4 million euros gross, which represents in net, 235.5 million euros. The passage between the gross is the net, it is explained by the expected taxation which must represent approximately 30% of the budgetary contributions.
Concretely, in net, it remains today ” 2.4% of the project, on the part of local authorities, to find. ”
The government will pronounce “a draft ordinance establishing the finance company. This project must include a complete financing plan, which will allow the Council of Ministers to decide, probably in February 2022 ″.
“I call on the local authorities to take responsibility”
Etienne Guyot took the opportunity to send a message. ” I invite, I call on local authorities to take responsibility to find solutions to complete the roundtable, on the part of local communities, the future finance company. ”
Project Director Guy Kauffmann returned on the Office Tax (TSB), supposed to participate in the financing of the project and which seemed to have disappeared from the radar.
It was not presented by the government to parliament. The latter has never been rejected by the TSB. In agreement and at the request of the communities, the government wanted to give some time to study the tax supplement. Compared to this objective of 30% taxation, the TSE already represents 17%. About half the way.
And for Etienne Guyot to move forward: “ The TSE will apply from January 1, 2023. The TSB does not exist today since there was no vote in parliament on the subject, the communities and the government having decided not to present an amendment. “
Finally, the Prefect looks ahead to the coming months: “the LOM (The Mobility Orientation Law) stipulates that the financing company must be created by April 24, 2022 at the latest. I see the glass three quarters full. In one month, 23 communities have spoken positively. It is not neutral … We are not far ! “
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