English: The point is that, for all the delays, and the so-called 'due diligence' that has been undertaken by the Welsh Government, the auditor general made no disparaging remark about the private sector project itself, but made lots of disparaging remarks about the capacity of civil servants and advisers of the Cabinet Secretary to reach a decision on what is a minute portion of the total amount of money that will ultimately be spent if this project goes ahead. Yes, of course, we must do due diligence, but the limitations on the risks to the public that are evident in this project are out of all proportion to the proposed benefits that are likely to arise. After all, all that the Government is being asked to do is to provide a secondary contingent guarantee of a portion of the private sector funding - there's no public money going into the project - which will only kick in when the assets are actually created. So, the contingent liability, which is less than 50 per cent, will be secured on 100 per cent of the assets, and it will only be a maximum of £8.5 million a year that the Welsh Government would be on the hook for, because it would guarantee the annual payments that are due to Aviva, the principal funder of the scheme, over a period of 20 years, so that although, technically, if the project fails completely, never makes any money and none of the assets can ever be sold, there is a potential loss of £8.5 million for 20-odd years, that, in the scale of the resources available to the Welsh Government, is nothing. If this project were to go ahead and be successful, on the back of the transport infrastructure improvements that Rhianon Passmore introduced into the debate in her intervention earlier on, and many other good things that are happening as well, like the improvement to the Heads of the Valleys road, and, we hope, electrification of railway lines as well, then this would be the real catalyst of beneficial change to those northern Valleys communities who, throughout my lifetime, have been the Cinderella of the United Kingdom.
Welsh: Er gwaethaf yr holl oedi, a'r hyn a elwir yn 'ddiwydrwydd dyladwy' a gyflawnwyd gan Lywodraeth Cymru, y pwynt yw na wnaeth yr archwilydd cyffredinol unrhyw sylw dilornus am y prosiect sector preifat ei hun, ond gwnaeth lawer o sylwadau dilornus am allu gweision sifil a chynghorwyr Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet i ddod i benderfyniad ar yr hyn sy'n gyfran fechan iawn o gyfanswm yr arian a werir yn y pen draw os yw'r prosiect yn mynd rhagddo. Oes, wrth gwrs fod rhaid i ni wneud diwydrwydd dyladwy, ond nid yw'r cyfyngiadau ar y risgiau i'r cyhoedd sy'n amlwg yn y prosiect hwn yn gymesur o gwbl â'r buddiannau arfaethedig sy'n debygol o godi. Wedi'r cyfan, y cwbl y gofynnir i'r Llywodraeth ei wneud yw darparu gwarant amodol eilaidd o gyfran o'r cyllid sector preifat - nid oes arian cyhoeddus yn mynd tuag at y prosiect - ac ni ddaw'n weithredol hyd nes y caiff yr asedau eu creu mewn gwirionedd. Felly, bydd y rhwymedigaeth wrth gefn, sy'n llai na 50 y cant, yn cael ei sicrhau ar 100 y cant o'r asedau, ac ni fyddai Llywodraeth Cymru ond ar y bachyn am uchafswm o £8.5 miliwn y flwyddyn, oherwydd byddai'n gwarantu'r taliadau blynyddol sy'n ddyledus i Aviva, prif noddwr y cynllun, dros gyfnod o 20 mlynedd, felly pe bai'r prosiect, yn dechnegol, yn methu'n gyfan gwbl, byth yn gwneud unrhyw arian a heb fodd o werthu'r un o'r asedau byth, mae yna bosibilrwydd o golli £8.5 miliwn dros oddeutu 20 mlynedd, sydd o ystyried maint yr adnoddau sydd ar gael i Lywodraeth Cymru, yn ddim byd. Pe bai'r prosiect hwn yn mynd rhagddo ac yn llwyddo, ar gefn y gwelliannau i'r seilwaith trafnidiaeth a gyflwynodd Rhianon Passmore i'r ddadl yn ei hymyriad yn gynharach, a llawer o bethau da eraill sy'n digwydd yn ogystal, fel y gwelliant i ffordd Blaenau'r Cymoedd, a thrydaneiddio'r rheilffyrdd hefyd gobeithio, yna hwn fyddai catalydd go iawn y newid a fyddai o fudd i gymunedau'r Cymoedd gogleddol sydd, ar hyd fy oes, wedi bod yn Sinderela'r Deyrnas Unedig.