M25 scheme 'may have wasted £1bn'

A project to widen two stretches of the UK's busiest motorway could have wasted £1bn of public money, MPs have said.

The Highways Agency gave poor cost estimates for the M25 scheme and did not look at possible cheaper alternatives, the public accounts committee found.

The MPs also questioned why it had taken nine years to sign a contract with a private company to do the work. But the agency said the project was progressing on time and under budget. It covers 22 miles (35km) between junction 16 and junction 23 of the M25, in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.

The agency's cost estimates for a 30-year, £3.4bn private finance contract for road-widening had been "poor", the committee said. It expressed concern that the invitation to tender for the contract had excluded "hard shoulder running", in which drivers are allowed to use the hard shoulder at peak times.

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source: BBC