The blue-bound interim report has sat on eleven desks for four days. On Thursday, it will be replaced by something heavier.

The Copper Review Commission’s final report — the document that will shape Bobington’s largest infrastructure decision in a generation — is due for delivery to the Municipal Chamber by noon on Thursday. Co-chairs Councilwoman Ida Pryce and Councilman Aldric Voss have spent the early part of this week incorporating the Greymoor geology panel’s Tuesday recommendations, refining the costings for the phased construction approach, and drafting the eligibility criteria for the 14-million-florin transition fund endorsed in the interim report.

Council Speaker Desmond Falk confirmed on Tuesday evening that the full council debate on the final report will take place on Monday, 9 March, in the Municipal Chamber.

“The commission has met its mandate with thoroughness and, I believe, with integrity,” Falk said. “The Council will now discharge its responsibility to debate and decide.”

Blackthorne Speaks

The more significant announcement came from the Mayor’s office. Harriet Blackthorne, who has maintained near-total public silence on the tramway issue since the commission was established on 19 February, issued a two-sentence statement through her press secretary on Tuesday afternoon:

“I have read the interim report with care and will study the final report with equal attention. I intend to address the Council in person at Monday’s debate.”

It is the first substantive communication from the Mayor’s office since a single-sentence acknowledgement of the interim report on 28 February — itself the first since Blackthorne’s written message to the commission’s opening hearing, in which she expressed “full confidence” in the process.

The Mayor’s silence has been the subject of considerable speculation at City Hall. Blackthorne was the tramway’s most prominent champion, having staked significant political capital on the project’s approval in the 7-4 council vote on 15 February. The copper crisis, the Kaelmar disruption, and the commission’s interim recommendation of a scaled-back phased approach all represent departures from the project she endorsed.

“The Mayor’s silence was not an absence of engagement — it was an exercise of discipline,” said one council source who asked not to be named. “She did not want to be seen putting her thumb on the commission’s scales. Now the scales have reported, and she can speak.”

Others are less generous. “Three weeks is a long time to say nothing about a three-billion-florin project,” said Councilman Voss when asked about the Mayor’s statement. He declined to elaborate.

What the Final Report Contains

The final report is expected to expand on the interim’s primary recommendation — the phased approach, with Phase 1 covering 7 stations and 8.2 miles from the Docklands terminus through Midtown to the Caldecott Square interchange — with the following additions:

Detailed costings. The interim report estimated the Phase 1 copper overrun at approximately 280 million florins. The final report will break this figure into procurement tranches, contingency allocations, and a schedule tied to projected copper price scenarios at 850, 870, and 900 florins per tonne.

Financing options. Deputy Treasurer Annabel Whitford’s testimony established that the city can raise approximately 350 million florins via bonds without triggering a Continental Rating Agency downgrade review. The final report will outline two to three bond issuance structures and their impact on the city’s long-term borrowing capacity.

Geological survey timeline. The Greymoor geology panel’s Tuesday recommendations — estimated at 1.65 million florins, with drilling beginning mid-April — will be incorporated in full.

Transition fund eligibility. The interim report endorsed a 14-million-florin fund for workers with specialist training who face delays. The final report will define eligibility criteria, payment schedules, and the administrative mechanism — likely housed within the existing Docklands Workers’ Association framework, with municipal oversight.

The Arithmetic

The numbers that will dominate Monday’s debate are beginning to crystallise. Phase 1 at approximately 280 million in copper overrun, plus the geological survey at 1.65 million, plus the monitoring station at approximately 195,000 in construction and 48,000 annually, plus the transition fund at 14 million. The total additional commitment above the original budget approaches 300 million florins — a figure the city can likely accommodate within its bonding capacity, but one that leaves almost no margin for further surprises.

“The question for Monday is not whether the Council supports a tramway,” Pryce said on Tuesday. “It is whether the Council trusts the phased approach to deliver one.”

The Municipal Chamber will convene at 10:00 on Monday morning. Public gallery seating is expected to be in high demand.