The project has a cost
An investment for a century
The financing plan, signed on 18 February 2022 by the French government, the 24 local authorities that make up SGPSO and SNCF Réseau, shows a total estimated cost of €10.361 billion in 2020, i.e. in 2020 euros, and an estimated cost of €14 billion in today’s euros, i.e. the estimated value of the works when completed compared with the estimated value in 2020.
These cost estimates will be regularly updated to take account of the reality of the works and changes in economic and financial conditions, in particular inflation.
Funding for the first phase, estimated at €10,3 billion in current terms will come from three sources:
- The local authorities that make up SGPSO will finance 40% of the estimated cost, i.e. €4,1 billionat current value, of which around 70% will come from the budget and around 30% from additional taxes*.
- The State will also provide 40% of the funding, or €4,1 billionin current terms.
- Europe is expected to contribute 20%, or €2,05 billionin current value.
* The additional taxation was created by the 2023 finance act. It provided the GPSO with €24 million in 2023 and around €62 million per year will be provided from 2024.
Costs at every stage
All public actors – Europe, the State and local authorities – will spend €10.3 billion over 40 years (between 2023 and 2063) for the first phase. 60% of this sum, or just over €6 billion, would not have been invested by Europe or the State in the South West without this project, with all the jobs and activity it represents.
What’s more, according to the latest INSEE projections, the population of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitania will increase from 12 to 13 million between 2023 and 2070, which means that the public authorities will invest an average of €824 per inhabitant in this project, or the modest sum of €20.6 per inhabitant per year over this period.
SGPSO, on behalf of the local authorities, will invest an average of €329 per inhabitant, or €8.2 per inhabitant per year over the period.
By way of comparison, the local authorities that make up the SGPSO alone have invested €329 per inhabitant of the South-West (12 million) over the year 2022, i.e. as much in a single year as they will invest over 40 years for the New Line.