Annual report on cost reduction plan reveals 15% fall in annual cost of building the UK鈥檚 infrastructure

Paul Deighton

The government鈥檚 has knocked over 拢3bn off the annual cost of building infrastructure in the UK, the latest official figures reveal.

In 2010, the government鈥檚 Infrastructure Cost Review set out a series of actions it would take with industry to reduce the cost of building new infrastructure projects.

In its annual report on progress on the plan, published today, it said it had now identified 拢3.4bn of annual savings that had been made as part of the plan.

It said infrastructure was now 15% cheaper to build than in 2010.

Lord Deighton, commercial secretary to the Treasury, said 鈥渟uccessive governments鈥 had 鈥渇ailed to invest sufficiently in the UK鈥檚 infrastructure鈥.

He said: 鈥淏y dealing with our debts and having a long term vision as set out in the National Infrastructure Plan, we can deliver the world class infrastructure the UK needs to compete.

鈥淒elivering infrastructure investment more efficiently is vital to ensure that taxpayers and consumers get more for less.鈥

But he said that the government could not be 鈥渃omplacent鈥 about the cost of infrastructure.

He added: 鈥淎s the economy recovers, we will redouble our efforts to ensure that we have the necessary skills, capacity and innovation to embed cost and efficient delivery.鈥