Britain gives go-ahead to new $13 billion Thames tunnel

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain gave the green light to a new 10 billion pound ($13 billion) road tunnel for the River Thames in southeast England on Tuesday, in its latest backing for an infrastructure project to help revive a sluggish economy.

Britain's Labour government has put speeding up planning processes to deliver new energy and transport projects at the heart of its growth agenda since it was elected last year, backing expansion at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

The Lower Thames Crossing, consisting of a tunnel and roads 23 kilometres (14.5 miles) in length, was granted development consent by the transport minister Heidi Alexander, the Planning Inspectorate said.

The tunnel will connect Kent, south of the river, to Essex, on the north side, improving connectivity and providing more road capacity for goods to travel between ports and central and northern England.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves said in January that the government was committed to the Lower Thames Crossing, adding that it was exploring options to privately finance the project.

The estimated cost of the project has now risen to 10 billion pounds from 5-7 billion pounds in 2017. It is expected to take six years to build.

The idea for an additional crossing in this part of the river to the east of London was first mooted as far back as 1989.

Formally proposed by the government in 2009, the crossing has been held up as an example of the difficulties faced in trying to get infrastructure projects off the ground in Britain.

($1 = 0.7734 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)