This traffic would benefit without reversing the flow road or rail

A milestone has passed, the protocols of intent concerning the principle of funding in the regions. They have been signed on 11 March between the State and the regional councils of Nord - Pas-de-Calais, Picardy, Ile-de-France and Haute-Normandie. They should open between 500 and 600 million euros of initial financing of the regions, which will be added to the inputs of the State (900 million), of the European Union (330 million) and the departments, or a total of 2.1 billion euros, i.e. half the cost of the work estimated in 2005 and re-evaluated monetary developments. The private of this public-private partnership (PPP) partner will need to find the other half of 4.2 billion. The door is now open to the "partnership agreement", last major milestone before the opening of the site. The public call for competition will be launched in the coming days.

The only element of the initial project that has changed is the perimeter of the contract, to take into account the desire of local authorities to engage in the four logistics platforms that will be created the new Canal. They are more integrated into the "partnership agreement", except for the primary work (earthworks, walls of Wharf...) and their management will be in a separate framework still to be defined, for example of joint management societies.

To respond to the call for applications, two groups have for the time being shown their interest, one led by da Vinci, the other by Bouygues. The selected consortium will be responsible for financing, design, implementation and operation-maintenance-regeneration of the canal for a period of thirty to fifty years. Unlike Highway contracts, it will not take the risk of trafficking, which will be retained by the State through lane navigable de France (VNF), the latter levying tolls from users, and then paying rent to the consortium. One of the reasons is that it is accepted that the private partner that will only keep the risks of construction and operating, control all the economic equation, for example the amount of the taxes and road tolls which may lead to a modal report.

"Competitive dialogue".

A specification will be put to the candidates, who will have to submit a project from "the summary draft" established in 2006. Technological developments will enter negotiations in a "competitive dialogue" that will be able to vary the costs, the objective being to compress them as much as possible. Duration of implementation and contract are also subject to negotiation, as the length and linearity or non-rent (for the construction, operation, regeneration).

The new part of the new channel (106 km) will fit in all Seine North Europe, stretching from Conflans to Ghent, in Belgium. Predictive calculations estimate between 13 and 15 million tonnes per year the annual traffic which could be achieved by this new axis compared to the 4 to 5 million tonnes of the old current canal du Nord. This traffic would benefit without reversing the flow road or rail. These figures take into account the simulations of average toll per tonne, which would reach 1.75 euro for the central part and 0.75 euro for the lateral parts.