€35b for Paris transport network

PARIS will stretch to the port of Le Havre with a new TGV link and canal link, while 140km of new metro tunnels will be built around the capital.

A huge engineering project to revitalise the French capital will take ten years starting from 2012.

A new 140km metro link around Paris will connect the two airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly and allow people to travel to the other side of the capital without going through the centre.

The super metro will function 24 hours a day and reach speeds on 80kph.

The two airports will also be linked into the TGV network connecting them to Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux.

A new TGV line will link Paris and Le Havre.

The plans for the development of Paris were announced by President Sarkozy. They also include a new forest to be situated in Roissy near Charles de Gaulle airport and an increase the production of social housing to 70,000 per year, beyond its current limit of 40,000.

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, welcomed the plans but said he wanted to see concrete promises on funding for the entire duration of the works.