MPs have criticised the plan to establish regional control centres for fire and rescue services across England.
Called the FiREControl scheme, the project, which cost £469 million, was designed to replace the 46 existing control rooms with nine up-to-date regional centers in the hope of providing a more co-ordinated response.
However, the project, which was set up in 2004 under the Labour government, was ditched in 2010.
A public accounts committee looking into the project has chastised the former Labour government for its costly waste, calling the scheme "one of the worst cases of project failure" in years.
Chair of the cross-party committee Margaret Hodge, said:
"The taxpayer has lost nearly half a billion pounds and eight of the completed regional control centres remain as empty and costly white elephants."
On the supposedly state-of-the-art IT system, the report questioned why it had never been delivered, while the project’s failure was blamed on civil servants failing to take responsibility and a reliance on external consultants.
"None has so far been held to account for failure and most have suffered no hindrance to their careers," the report said.
Currently, only the London centre has been occupied by fire and rescue services.