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CONTENTS 14.05.09

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NewCivilEngineer

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NewCivilEngineer

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EDITORIALINQUIRIES Tel:(020) 7728 4544 (fax4666) Email: prefixplus@emap.com EDITOR1Antony Oliver (020)7728 4541antony.oliver DEPUTYEDITOR

1

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GINEER 3

05

NEWS

Crossrailaxed?

ToryTreasuryspokesmansays all major projectswillface reviewand possibleaxe.

AntonyOliver

Le

18

COVER STORY Incheon Bridge

Construction of South Korea's 12.SkmIncheon Bridge is racing to completion on schedule.

21

SPECIALFEATURE

Water

NCE's review of the water sector reports on key projects nearing completion in AMP4.

Aisein this issue

06 News

crossrail construction gets undervvay at Canary wharf

08 News

Nakheel offers to paya fraction of its debts

10 News

Tees Bridge opens to pedestrians

12

News

www.nce.co.ukrecords recordmonth

14 Letters

Business, structures, water & environment

41 ICENews

ICE presidential team reshuffle

Comment "Politicians must be laid there is no real value in caneelling projeds"

7

Wemustdeliverthewhole,truthandnothingbutthetruth

Start digging today - it's the truest way to silence the constant poli tical chattering about whether or not the nation can afford to invest in major infrastructu,re projects.

It is a point made well this week by out- going Crossrail chairman Doug Oakervee regarding recent speculation over the proj-

ect's future.

Well, he would say that wouldn't he? Yes,

and it's the truth

the engineeringtruth.

Right now we need a bit more engineering truth. And in a week whieh bas given us such graphie insight into the nature of politieal truth it will not be before rime.

But let's just get one thing straight - one engineering truth. Cancelling major infra- structure projects such as Crossrail is not the solution to the public spending crisis and will deliver little short term benefit ta the UK exchequer. Politicians must be told- there is no real value in cancelling projects.

ln Crossrail's case the Treasury funding

profile bas always been heavily back-Ioaded to avoid any potential clash with other committed public spending programmes such as London 2012. Thus the reality is that even if the whole f1S.9bn project was halted tomorrow, no real benefit would be feh by the chancellor for many years.

So when the Tories bang on about protecting the public purse by reviewing all major infrastructure projects - including Crossrail- should they win power next year, it is in reality something of a hollow threat.

And they know it. The engineering truth is that rather than protecting the public purse, such gestures risk damaging project confidence and so waste money.

What politicians must grasp is the future value of major investment. ln Crossrail's case it is investment that will enable the public to travel easily and quickly and makes doing business in the capital more efficient.

The only sad note about the whole scheme

is that it bas taken too long to get to this point. It bas taken too long for engineers to explain their truth.

And as one correspondent alludes this week on the NCEletters page, perhaps civil engineers are guilty ofbeing too honest generally. But had, for example, engineers been slightly less creative with the truth regarding the consequences of not protecting London frOIDfloods the whole Thames Barrier project might have been killed off at a stroke. And then where would we be?

Now of course given this week's continu- ously unfolding tale of creative expense claims and down-right deceit by our elected members in the House of Commons, it is clearly a difficult path to steer.

But steer it we must. The truth is, after aIl, merely one man's version of the reality. We must ensure that the engineer's version of reality prevails.

. AntonyOliverisNCEseditor