Review call on overseas bridge deals

Published on Monday 13 February 2012 12:03

A REVIEW has been called for amid further criticism of the awarding of contracts for the new Forth crossing which have been handed to foreign firms.

Companies in Germany, Spain, Poland and Ireland have been awarded deals to help build the road bridge, it was reported today.

Now documents released by Transport Scotland show seven more sub-contracts have left Scotland, on top of three steel sub-contracts previously awarded.

The latest move has led to fresh calls for a review of how the construction project is being handled, with some critics blasting Alex Salmond for failing Scottish workers.

Labour infrastructure spokesman Richard Baker said: “Not only have Scottish firms been left out of the high-value contracts for the Forth crossing, we are being denied the breadcrumbs from the table.”

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8

RonS2

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 02:13 PM

Maybe the Scottish potential suppliers are simply no good?

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7

catnap11

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 01:18 PM

Are other readers aware of the offshoring of work to India in the finance industry (IT jobs in particular, but more besides) - including those large banks which were bailed out by the taxpayer? Never seems to get mentioned much, but it's a growing issue, not a diminishing one.

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6

grumpyscot

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 07:09 PM

#4 - then its about time we did what the French do - stufff the EU and look after Number One! Of course, this plays right into the hands of David Cameron, who holds out the hope that Scotland will just disappear off the map forever - i.e. finishing what Maggie Thatcher started.

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5

Frottomhound

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 02:12 PM

The SNP continue to redefine "Nationalism"

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4

Gordon Hay

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 02:02 PM

#3 - A sensible approach, you might think, but of course EU rules specifically prohibit such things from being taken into consideration.

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3

Teddev

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:57 PM

Isn't it about time that some government agency worked out an algorithm to calculate the total cost of making such decisions? Unemployment and benefit costs should be factored in and even a notional social cost. Even after this a cost differential of 10% or less should be acceptable to keep jobs onshore. National contracts and sub contracts need to be evaluated differently form ongoing management projects. Simple P&L evaluations are just not adequate enough!!

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A Friend of Fernando Poo

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:31 PM

Given the sorry state of the Parliament and Tram projects, they should go as far as necessary to find people who can build it on time and on budget.

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1

nickedinburgh

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:16 PM

Rather than playing party politics that just makes him sound stupid, Richard Baker should be posing intelligent questions about why Scottish firms can't compete, given all their advantages of being local. This is a great example of why no one respects politicians of the the calibre of Mr Baker, as they are far more interested in thick-witted points scoring rather than actually doing their job which is to understand and then suggest solutions for the underlying problems of our economy.

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