A monorail system could help rejuvenate Birmingham and defeat its looming gridlock, the new president of the city's chamber of commerce has claimed.
Simon Topman, who was formally appointed yesterday , said he had doubts about the underground option currently being reviewed by Birmingham council.
Some estimates have put the price of an underground at £2 billion, while the council is also considering whether to extend the Midland Metro from Snow Hill to Five Ways.
A decision is due this month.
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Mr Topman said: "I am not sure about the underground, because of the costs. But what about not going underground, but look at going overground?
"You only have to look at Disneyworld and the monorail system they have there. If you had something like that in Birmingham you could reach all parts of the city.
"You could go from Selly Oak to Aston and Lozells, where you have the need for regeneration."
Mr Topman, who is also the head of Acme Whistles, warned that Birmingham was likely to be heading for an economic downturn in the next few months, with both the service and manufacturing sectors languishing.
Unless urgent action was taken, Mr Topman said he could see the demise of skilled trades in the city within the next ten years.
He said: "I think we are heading into a bit of a trough. The service sector seems to be at full capacity, but overall confidence is down with high street sales suffering.
"I am not talking about a full blown recession, but the city is under a bit of pressure.
"But we have been here before, and there are still fabulous things about the city, the skills of the people and their resolve."
Mr Topman said he was very concerned for the future of manufacturing in Birmingham, which was reeling from large cost increases in raw materials and bureaucracy.
But he added the automotive industry still had a vital role to play.
He said: "It is tough market, but there are all these skills and I don't think it is going to disappear.
"Energy costs are a big concern. I know from my business that our electricity and gas bill has gone up by 23 per cent this year, on top of 54 per cent last year."
Downward cost pressures were increasing, but rates were increasing, he said.
"The people who are doing the rate review, for them it is about how you can pay more for more. People want to pay less for more, but we are paying more for things like business rates.
"How does this make a competitive global economy? We have to get a serious grip on some costs in the region."
Another way to address the problems in manufacturing was to incentivise small firms, and reduce the costs of taking patents out on their latest innovations.
He said: "In my own business I am still able to find skilled tool-makers, but I believe in ten years time I will be struggling badly to do that.
"Few people are as skilled or creative as tool-makers. Everyone thinks of creative people as artists in lofty garrets, but you have to be very creative to make tools.
"But we are losing that creativity and with that goes what will be our salvation. They will be making cheaper things in Mumbai and Beijing, but we have to own the intellectual property, the clever stuff.
"It is very expensive and incredibly bureaucratic for our companies to take out patents; £10,000 each time, and then £3,000 for each country.
"This is an issue we must look at along with the Government."
