The project was regarded privately by the British government as a "commercial disaster" which should never have been started and was almost cancelled, but political and legal issues had ultimately made it impossible for either government to pull out.
这个项目被英国政府私下叫做“商业灾难”，本就不该开始，当时也就要取消了，但由于一些政治、法律等问题，两国政府最终都没有脱身。