Poor management failed Tube firm Metronet
 

[x-posted to uk.transport.london]

On Mar 2, 11:58*am, Graeme wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8544491.stm


....so says the the Commons Public Accounts Committee report.

Rather interestingly, the poor management being criticised here is not
that of Metronet (though that seems a given, considering it
collapsed), nor that of LUL/TfL, but that of the DfT... here's an
excerpt of the article:

---quote---
Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee, said: "The taxpayer has
lost up to £410m as a result of the DfT's inadequate management of the
risks arising from the Metronet contracts for upgrading the
infrastructure of the Underground.

"This committee finds it unacceptable that the department ignored the
warning by the National Audit Office in 2004 to avoid a hands-off
approach to overseeing the upgrades.

"The department's assumptions were flawed from the outset. It was
naive in assuming that Metronet would establish strong financial
management and corporate governance.

"And its assumption that Metronet's lenders would exert strong
influence on Metronet's governance and financial health in order to
protect their investment was undermined because the department
shouldered 95% of the lenders' risks," he added.
---/quote---


Part of the DfT response:
---quote---
"We were also prevented from micro-managing the contracts under the
terms of the London devolution legislation which is why since the PAC
hearing an independent advisory panel has been established to provide
expert scrutiny and advice on the TfL investment programme, including
the former Metronet contracts."
---/quote---