Q. How does the city council view the tram now? A. Officially the council is a supporter of the tram but with a number of reservations including the need for the tram infrastructure to fit in with the city's newly-won World Heritage Status. Privately, senior council figures are apathetic at best to the tram, particularly the routes of Line One and Two. They believe Kirkby is well-served by buses and Merseyrail already (although the tram route is significantly different). The council recently passed a motion calling for a rerouting of Line Two to serve JLA airport which directly led to the current crisis. Q. Why is the council's view so important? A. Liverpool City Council is the planning and highways authority along most of the tram route. As such, it can put significant obstacles in the way of the tram contractors. Hence the shock of the bidding consortia when the council asked for them to consider rerouting, just two weeks before the submission of bids and after millions of pounds of preparation work. M-Tram later pulled out, leaving MET as the only bidder. If the council was to object to Line Two at the public inquiry which must be held, it would virtually kill the scheme and the bidder would have lost millions. Q. It seems obvious that the airport line should be built first. Why has it not been planned that way? A. This is the complicated bit. It comes down to the criteria the Government uses in deciding which projects to fund. Each project gets extra points for connecting areas of unemployment with areas of employment. The Government believes better transport links can help regenerate deprived areas. By connecting the likes of Croxteth and Kirkby to the jobs in Liverpool city centre and Stonebridge Cross business park, Line One does just that - hence £170m of vital Government support. It is a similar story for Line Two. In contrast, Line Three generally goes through more affluent areas of south Liverpool, making it harder to secure funding. But, with the first two lines already in place, you can achieve a "bigger network effect" with Line Three,, helping the funding case. Q. So where are we at now? A. There is one remaining bidder, the Mersey Express Tramway (MET) consortium. It is made up of operator Keolis, designer Parsons Brinkerhoff and contractor Balfour Beattie. They should have put in a final bid for Line One today but asked for an extension until next Tuesday. It wants the city council to officially confirm it has retracted its view on Line Two at a cabinet meeting tomorrow. Q. What if they don't bid? A. Simple. No bidder, no tramway, let the recriminations begin. Q. Is this tramway going to be built? A. It really is 50/50. The bidder is very concerned about the council's position, the council is very concerned about the tram becoming "an albatross around the city's neck" and the Government is looking on, possibly wondering why it should bother funding Line Two when Liverpool is not even sure it wants the project. The plan is for work to start on April 1, 2005. andykelly@dailypost.co.uk | 
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