Call for Coalition to save QE2 from scrap heap

Thursday 10 January 2013

A GROUP bidding to bring the Clyde-built liner QE2 to London has called on the Government to help save her from the scrap heap.

proposal: QE2 would be moored on the River Thames.

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Ben Riley-Smith

The QE2 London group is yet to hear whether its £70 million offer for the 963ft cruise ship has been accepted by her Dubai owners.

The group wants to permanently moor the famous boat opposite the O2 Arena and convert her into a five-star hotel with wedding and conference facilities.

But they now fear a deal to sell the QE2 to an Indian scrap yard could be just days away and called on the Government to publicly support the British bid. "We are very concerned that scrapping is something seriously being consider by Dubai," a QE2 London spokesman said."If it is announced that the ship is going to scrap, possibly the Government should look at securing the ship for the UK. The Government could support a developer to develop the QE2 London option. The developer would go out and get the finance for the project but the Government could back it."The group said its bid, which was submitted to Dubai last month and is one of a number of offers under consideration, fits with the Coalition gGovernment's pledge to support infrastructure spending. Images from QE2 London's ambitious proposals have emerged showing where the ship would be moored on the Thames. The QE2 would permanently sit in a redeveloped Carlsberg Wharf, opposite the O2 Arena and near the Emirates Cable Car and the Excel Conference Centre. An estimated 1500 to 2000 new jobs would be created by the project. Yesterday Arabian Business magazine reported that Dubai had cancelled plans to host 160 events on the QE2, prompting fears that a deal on the ship's future was imminent. A spokesman for QE2 London said the ship was a "British National treasure" and that its destruction would be a disaster.

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Call for Coalition to save QE2 from scrap heap

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