Jamieson confident in Galileo’s potential
The Transport Minister David Jamieson has expressed full confidence in the future of the EU’s Galileo satellite positioning system.
The pan European system will be based around 30 satellites – double the number of those that provide the American Global Positioning System (GPS) – and will provide greater, and more accurate, coverage of the globe.
In June, the EU and the US signed an agreement to ensure that the two systems will be compatible, as well as operating in different band widths. In practical terms this means that each side could jam the other’s system in a war zone situation without shutting down the whole system.
Analysts believe that the compatibility of the two systems could drive a global explosion in the use of satellite location data.
Galileo will cost around £1.9 billion and opinions are divided upon the systems benefits. Some argue that new services, for example train guidance and signalling systems, are to be developed when the EU needs a system of its own. The American system is military-based, and can be shut down at any time without warning if situations dictate. Others though are concerned about the high cost to the tax payer, and whether it is simply duplicating existing systems.
Giving evidence to the Commons Transport Select Committee, Mr Jamieson told MPs that British industry is well-placed to benefit from the project and work in the development phase has already brought 500 highly skilled jobs to the UK.
He told the committee that 30 per cent of the work created by the project has already come to Britain and that the Government would be supporting very strongly the UK’s bid for Galileo’s control centre to be located in Britain. France, Germany and Italy are also bidding.
Eventually, he said, there could be as many as 100,000 jobs across Europe and a major market for equipment and services.
Expressing his confidence that Galileo would become a reality, he told MPs that the decision on a final concessionaire to operate the Public Regulated Service (PRS) part of the system will be made in the spring.
Mr Jamieson said that the concessionaire will be expected to establish clearly that they can achieve what they say within the stated costs. If the money did not materialise, the whole project would have to be reconsidered, he said.
Pushed further on who takes the risk if the expected revenue under the project does not arise, the Minister assured MPs that the financial risk would pass to the concessionaire. He added, however, that if the concessionaire collapsed, there would have to be a decision over how the project could be continued. Mr Jamieson though indicated that the EU would want to continue with the project in those circumstances given the already heavy investment in member states.
He fully rejected suggestions that this amounted to an assurance that the public sector would guarantee 100 per cent of the risk of the project.
Phil Carey, head of ports division at the Department for Transport, who was also giving evidence, admitted that the original timetable for the project being operational by 2008 is unlikely, and that there may be some slippage due to the complexity of the public-private partnership contract . A 2008 – 2010 timescale is more realistic, he said.
