Trams councillor: I was out of my depth

By Chris Marshall
Published on Tuesday 11 October 2011 13:46

THE politician at the centre of Edinburgh’s tram fiasco has admitted that he and his colleagues were out of their depth and failed to oversee the project properly.

Gordon Mackenzie, the city’s transport convener, said his background in social work had left him ill-prepared for his role in scrutinising the controversial scheme.

His comments came as the main contractor, Bilfinger Berger, blamed delays on the “frustrating” behaviour of the publicly funded company that was charged with delivering the project.

Mr Mackenzie said councillors on the board of tram firm TIE (Transport Initiatives Edinburgh) had lacked the necessary “technical expertise”.

He said: “I think that putting councillors on the board of TIE didn’t add anything in terms of the technical expertise that a project like this requires.

“I mean, I have a social work background, others have electronics and banking management, that sort of thing.

“We were not people who had previously had experience of major projects like this. We didn’t have legal expertise, for example.

“I don’t think there was anybody on the board with that sort of expertise, so as a board, did we have the right skill mix to properly scrutinise?”

He added: “Not to say that any individual was lacking in a particular way, but I think we were put together for political purposes as much as anything else.”

His admission came in a BBC documentary to be screened tonight, in which Bilfinger Berger said TIE had misinterpreted the contract and had behaved in an “extraordinary” fashion, unlike any of its other clients anywhere in the world.

Dr Jochen Keysberg, the chairman of Bilfinger Berger Civil, said TIE, an arm’s-length company owned by Edinburgh City Council, had read the tram contract “completely differently” to its German contractor.

His comments came after finance secretary John Swinney said he had been “fundamentally misled” by TIE, which he said had told him “absolute rubbish” about the project.

Dr Keysberg disputed previous suggestions from TIE that the project’s contract meant that Bilfinger Berger would bear all the risk.

He said: “The vast majority of the risk was still within the responsibility of TIE, our client. And especially with those risks which materialised, to an extent nobody expected at the beginning, to be fair, which were design changes and utility problems. They were clearly within the responsibility of TIE.

“The difficulty was mainly in the fact that TIE read the contract completely different than we were doing,” said Dr Keysberg. “You cannot ask me why they did it; I still don’t know.

“Maybe they were badly advised, maybe they just tried to pressure us in a certain position.

“But this was frustrating, and if you have a completely different reading of the risk assessment in the contract, you cannot come together, and that was a frustrating situation.”

Dr Keysberg said his firm’s relationship with TIE was unlike that of any of the company’s other clients anywhere else in the world.

He said: “We have probably up to 200 bigger projects around the world running, and that from time to time you get into a dispute with a client. This happens. But the vast, vast majority of our clients are extremely happy with our performance.”

He added: “Even our consortium partners cannot recognise a similar experience in the recent past. This is something very extraordinary, what we experienced here.”

Last month, Edinburgh councillors voted to build the tram line to St Andrew Square after the Scottish Government said it would withhold funding if the project was not built at least as far as the city centre. The current cost of the line is £776 million, with the city council set to borrow around £200m to pay for it. Interest payments will see the project cost around £1 billion – double the price of the original line between Edinburgh airport and Newhaven.

Margo MacDonald, an independent MSP for the Lothians, said there were similarities between the tram project and that of the Scottish Parliament, where MSPs put in place to scrutinise the building project were “out of their depth”.

She said: “In terms of the trams, whether the councillors were out of their depth or just not properly informed about what was going on, I don’t know.

“But when you have a relatively small group of people working together, they build up a relationship of trust, and it’s possible they were a bit too trusting of what they were told.

“There was perhaps too much trust and not enough in the way of strict procedures which can we can go back and examine.”

Mr Swinney has said he was “fundamentally misled” by TIE about the project, saying the firm told him and the city council “absolute rubbish”.

Had it not done so, the Scottish Government might have intervened in the project earlier, he said.

Mr Swinney’s comments came as Professor Iain Docherty, an influential transport academic and former board director of Transport Scotland, said Edinburgh had chosen the wrong tram line to build first.

Prof Docherty said his preferred route would have been between the city centre and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Jenny Dawe, the leader of Edinburgh city council, said: “This council is determined that the steps that it has taken to get the project completed are subject to sustained and proper consideration, as indeed should the position and arrangements that it inherited.

“More importantly, however, we must focus on moving forward and on maintaining constructive working relationships with the contractor and our other partners.”

Ms Dawe added: “Only then will we succeed in delivering a tram system for Edinburgh.”

It had initially been expected that the tram line between the airport and Newhaven would cost £512m and be completed by 2011.

However, it is now expected that trams will not be running in Edinburgh until 2014 at the earliest..

Related Articles

• Tram plan turmoil as new delay is revealed

  THE controversial project to introduce trams to the capital has been plunged into fresh turmoil after the constructors said the complete line would not now be ready until 2014 – two years after the expected date.

  0 Comments

• Tram chiefs must start behaving like leaders and resolve impasse

  THE more we know about the progress of the plans to build Edinburgh a modern tram system, the clearer it becomes that the project – which can bring great benefits to the capital and Scotland – has been badly mismanaged.

  0 Comments

• City leaders split on move to sack tram contractor

  EDINBURGH's councillors are split over whether to sack the firm at the centre of the city's tram dispute, it has emerged.

  0 Comments

• Edinburgh tram route to be cut as cost spirals

  EDINBURGH'S beleaguered tram scheme was plunged into fresh turmoil last night after it emerged that project leaders have no idea what the final price tag will be and the first phase of the long-awaited scheme will stop short of its original destination.

  0 Comments

Comments

There are 113 comments to this article

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 8

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• Next >
• Show all

113

Nome Deplumb

Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 11:56 AM

Mckenzie actually admits weakness-why is it that he and other Councils actually vote against their officers' advice consistently-confusing their politco clap trap with real evidence and sense of reporting. Councillors are paid- they should have culpability as any Board of management have- Trustees have greater responsibility than councillors and are not paid-

• Report Unsuitable

112

forsyth.bill1

Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 12:00 AM

How does a social worker become transport convener words fail.

• Report Unsuitable

111

Argungu

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:41 AM

I have to plagiarize the words of John Carson, a regular critic of the Edinburgh Tram since inception, and all who promote it, - "you could not make this up". Yet Councillors Mackenzie and Dawe have the gall to remain in office?

• Report Unsuitable

110

Phil C

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 09:42 AM

Labour's vanity project trundles on...without wheels and off the rails.

• Report Unsuitable

109

The License Of The Balms

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12:05 AM

You can put a pair of boots in the oven, but that don't make 'em biscuits

• Report Unsuitable

108

Moniker Lewinsky

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12:01 AM

That's a neat trick, you can change your moniker after you have posted. I will learn how to do that tomorrow........

• Report Unsuitable

107

GDR57

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:51 PM

This new website is rubbish

• Report Unsuitable

106

The License Of The Balms

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:42 PM

Very, very strange.

• Report Unsuitable

105

Moniker Lewinsky

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:42 PM

Congratulations Conan - bagged the first hunner:-)

• Report Unsuitable

104

Libra Personified

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM

Much prefer paragraph spacing though.

• Report Unsuitable

103

Libra Personified

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:35 PM

I take that back - I could get used to it.

• Report Unsuitable

102

Willie Macleod

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:33 PM

When I got the e-mail and registered, I did'nt expect this! I feel nostalgic for the old site already.

• Report Unsuitable

101

jock in the box

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:23 PM

The claim that the councillors may have been out of their depth simply will not wash.If they felt this they should NOT have done what they did.A public enquiry is now imperative so that we can establish who knew what ,when ,and why they said nothing about the complete shambles which TIE presided over. Billfinger Berger were unable to put forward their side of events until now, and that in itself is highly suspicious. Why was the major contractor gagged as in a specified condition of the contract. I blamed Labour councillors and Iain Grays opposition party as being responsible before, and I see only further reason to believe this. The other two Unionist parties also have a lot of explaining to do here. The truth will now come outm and its obvious that Unionists fear what will emerge! As for the "new" Scotsman layout the less said the better! You cannot see what you are typing for a start! Can we read what others contributed easily ? It will take time to get used to,but I suspect many will just depart because the purpose of this is unclear, and appears counter productive upon first impression.

• Report Unsuitable

100

I need your Clothes, your Boots and your Motorcycle

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:20 PM

Me then.

• Report Unsuitable

99

I need your Clothes, your Boots and your Motorcycle

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:20 PM

Anyone?

• Report Unsuitable

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 8

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• Next >
• Show all

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.