Government capital grant funding:
Edinburgh City Council says: The council will have to look at its capital programme. This was an instruction of council at its meeting on Thursday.
Professor Arthur Midwinter, Edinburgh University Business School, says: The current capital grant is about £50m a year, so the notion that it is going to redistribute a fairly sizeable sum out of that seems highly dubious to me. It is not easy to shift money within a capital grant.
Once running trams will make a surplus £2m that can be used to pay tram bill:
Council says: For every £1m it makes on the tram income it can also use that as a basis to borrow £14m.
Professor Midwinter says: The legal position would be that it could only borrow the money once it was up and running.
Government planned business rates incentive.
Council says: This is a potential source of funding.
Professor Midwinter says: I think it is unwise to build any assumptions into a budget over legislation that has not yet been passed and over which you do not know the detail.
Private investment.
Council says: Private investors and sponsors will be sought.
Professor Midwinter says: Until these are in place you can’t say what they will be worth.
A potential £25m from the sale of 10 surplus trams.
Council says: The vehicles have a book value of £2.5m per vehicle, but this was largely discounted as a high-risk source of funding.
Professor Midwinter says: Selling trams at £25m a piece is high risk, as has been acknowledged. You still have to find a buyer.
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