Tram chiefs have six days to end Princes Street stalemate

Published on Friday 13 March 2009 08:49

TRAM bosses have just six days to break the stalemate with their contractors or face having their cash wrangle settled by an independent panel of industry experts.

A cut-off date of March 19 has been set for crisis talks between TIE and its contractor Bilfinger Berger to reach a compromise over work on Princes Street, or the matter will go to adjudication.

This process would see a group of construction industry experts take evidence from both parties, as well as calling key witnesses such as former trams boss Willie Gallagher, before eventually reaching a decision on who is to blame and how much extra money, if any, would have to be spent.

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Adjudication would take around six weeks to complete meaning it could be the summer before work finally gets under way on Princes Street.

The adjudication process was agreed when tram contracts were signed in May last year and would be held in private. The Evening News revealed last month how Bilfinger has already fought and lost three previous disputes with city transport bosses at the so-called "dispute resolution panels".

The disputed work on Princes Street is expected to cost up to 20 million though delays to the whole tram programme are expected to cost much more. News of the looming deadline came as city leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the airport to Newhaven line following criticism from opposition politicians that the city leader Jenny Dawe is not showing enough leadership on the project.

Councillor Iain Whyte, the city's Tory leader, said: "I understand that it is difficult at times with the ongoing contract talks but I do think we need to see the council taking more leadership.

"We need to see this resolved as soon as possible and ideally without going to adjudication."

Councillor Andrew Burns, the city's Labour leader, added: "The administration has been in charge for nearly two years now and we should see them out there leading from the front."

The Evening News revealed earlier this week that just 40m remains of the original 96m set aside for overruns or problems on the line. Overrunning utilities work has taken up a lot of this money but tram bosses today said these works will be "substantially completed" by July.

Transport chiefs are considering a number of options if talks with Bilfinger are not resolved, including opening the Haymarket to Edinburgh Airport section ahead of the rest of the 16km route in a bid to speed up the project.

Another idea is to bring the management of installing the tram track and overhead wires in-house.

It might also be possible for Siemens – which is part of the tram building consortium, along with Bilfinger Berger and tram maker CAF – to take over Bilfinger's role.

Councillor Dawe, said: "We are in no way shirking our responsibilities. People can choose what they like to believe but I can assure you we absolutely intend to build the tramline from Newhaven to the airport within the budget available."

A spokesman for TIE added: "We are doing everything in our power to resolve the issues within the parameters of the ongoing dispute resolution procedure."