Banks Dig Deeper to Keep Eurotunnel Construction Going
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LONDON — The Channel tunnel project between France and Britain was given a new lease on life today after banks agreed to release funds to keep workers digging for at least four more months.
A banker involved in talks with Eurotunnel SA, the Anglo-French consortium overseeing construction and operation of the rail link, estimated the new funds at between $500 million and $665 million.
He told Reuters an official announcement will probably be made Friday.
The agreement was reached after Eurotunnel settled a dispute with Transmanche Link, a group of French and British firms that is building the tunnel, over costs that have jumped to more than $11.6 billion from an original estimate of $6.6 billion.
Eurotunnel had said the future of the 31-mile undersea link, due to open in 1993, was in doubt if the banks did not release the funds.
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