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Prime minister Gordon Brown has given his approval for the long-awaited Crossrail project to go ahead.

Mr Brown said that the planned £16 billion London rail link would be of "enormous importance" for the whole country.

"By generating an additional 30,000 jobs and helping London retain its position as the world's pre-eminent financial centre, it will support Britain's economic growth and maintain Britain's position as a leading world economy," explained the prime minister in a statement.

"And by delivering quicker journeys from some of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the city to the most economically important, it will support regeneration particularly in the most deprived parts of our country," he added.

The government claims that the planned rail link between east and west London will bring an additional 1.5 million people to within 60 minutes of the city's key business areas.

It is expected that Crossrail will carry some 200 million passengers a year, with construction on the project to begin in 2010 and the first trains set to run from 2017.

Earlier this month Mr Brown announced the government's intention to help finance the ambitious Crossrail project, providing businesses also played their part in providing funding for the rail link.

The government has already committed £400 million to detail design for the project, with £16 billion required in total to finance the construction of Crossrail.

London mayor Ken Livingstone has welcomed the prime minister's final approval for the rail link, which will connect the east of the capital and Canary Wharf with central London and Heathrow airport.

Mr Livingstone stressed that Crossrail was the "key to the next 20 years of economic development" in London.

The city's mayor added that the largest addition to the capital's transport system for more than 50 years would "touch the lives of millions of Londoners".

"Crossrail will provide the transport underpinning for the greatest centres of London’s business – the City, Canary Wharf and the West End – as well as linking these areas of high jobs growth to the areas of greatest deprivation in east London and opening up the areas of new housing development in the Thames Gateway," said Mr Livingstone.