The standoff continues. The president of Ile-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, has taken a further step in the conflict between her and the government over the financing of transport in the Ile-de-France region. “At this stage we do not have the money to open the extensions of line 14 and RER E” planned for 2024, she warned on Tuesday, calling on the State to take its responsibilities by guaranteeing it to new tax revenue. “There is no question that it is the travelers who pay, nor the communities who do not have the means”, insisted Valérie Pécresse.
Also president of the capital region, she was very firm on the subject, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Mantes-la-Jolie station, renovated to accommodate the terminus of the RER E whose arrival is scheduled for the end of 2026. In the meantime, a first section of the extension must open between Haussmann Saint-Lazare and Nanterre from June 2024. The elected official (LR) recalled the avenues outlined to increase revenue: increase the mobility payment – a tax on companies to finance transport –, a tourist tax on hotel rooms – especially during the Olympic Games – or even a contribution from the Métropole du Grand Paris.
800 million needed next year
“We are in dialogue with the State but the Minister (of Transport) must hear us”, hammered Valérie Pécresse who hopes for new income in the finance bill which will be presented in June.
Another highly anticipated inauguration, particularly in view of the Olympic Games, is the extension of metro line 14 between Saint-Denis Pleyel in the north and Orly airport in the south, which is also scheduled to open in June 2024. line 11 will go as far as Rosny Bois-Perrier from next year. To operate all these new lines, IDFM needs 800 million euros, says Valérie Pécresse. “And in 2031 – when all the lines of the Grand Paris Express will be open – it will be 1.6 billion per year”, she underlined.
No “recipes to run trains, it’s nerd”
The Eole project (for the RER E) cost 5.4 billion euros instead of the 3 billion initially planned and the Ile-de-France region paid around 40%, noted Valérie Pécresse. “We financed this line but the State did not give us the revenue to run the trains, it’s nerd”, she quipped.
The regional boss also reiterated her request for an ambitious State-region plan contract (CPER). “We do not want a CPER 2023-2028 at a discount”, she insisted, claiming 4 billion euros from the State, in addition to the 6 billion promised by local authorities for transport infrastructure. “For now, the state has only put 1.8 billion,” she lamented. “Not investing up to the needs would be an ecological and social fault”, warned the elected official.