While there’s been some speculation over how much the scrapped Newport M4 bypass would’ve cost, some new information has been included in a report sent to the Senedd’s Public Accounts Committee by the Welsh Government’s Director General for Economy, Skills & Natural Resources, Andrew Slade (pdf).
The report confirms that since 2013, £114.1million has been spent on bypass preliminary work, though this is expected to rise to £123million with wind-up work included. As part of this preliminary work, just over £3.7million worth of land was bought by the Welsh Government since 2013. Assuming this land was sold at some point, net expenditure on the bypass since 2013 would be around £119million.
Estimates of the total construction cost range from £998million (£1.13billion inc. VAT) at 2010 base prices, to £1.11billion (£1.26billion inc. VAT) during a 2015 public inquiry, rising to £1.38billion (£1.57billion inc. VAT) at the point by which the project was cancelled.
