Major public project ahead of schedule and under budget

SCOTLAND'S most expensive new road is expected to cost £20 million less than expected when it opens in two weeks, the Scottish Government has said.

Infrastructure and capital investment secretary Alex Neil said the saving on the five-mile M74 extension in Glasgow was "clear evidence of our robust and effective management of major projects".

The 15m-20m saving on the 445m construction contract amounts to some 4.5 per cent of the total, although the total cost of the project is 692m, which includes buying land.

The new motorway will extend the M74 north west to join the M8 west of the Kingston bridge, providing a more direct route for through-traffic.

Mr Neil said building work was running eight months ahead of schedule, although the overall project is running years late.

The delay is partly because of a failed legal challenge by environmental groups, which followed the road being approved by ministers against the recommendation of the official public inquiry to ditch it.

The road being built by the Interlink M74 JV (joint venture] consortium of four major firms - Morrison Construction, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Sir Robert McAlpine - which jointly lodged the sole bid for the work.

The road will be opened on Tuesday, 28 June by the Duke of Gloucester.

Mr Neil said: "The M74 completion is the largest infrastructure project on the ground in Scotland and it's opening eight months early and between 15m and 20m under budget.

"This will mean significant savings for Scottish taxpayers and drivers will be able to enjoy the benefits of this crucial piece of infrastructure several months ahead of schedule.

"This is clear evidence of our robust and effective management of major projects such as this. Our record of investment in transport infrastructure over the past four years has provided a much needed boost for the construction sector and supported tens of thousands of jobs."

But opponents of the scheme poured scorn on the claims.

Glasgow Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "A month after Holyrood opened in 1999, Labour were saying this road could be built for a fraction of the current cost, but in reality it has cost almost 3,000 per centimetre of Tarmac laid, and opened 12 years after that optimistic spin.

"This is a scheme that should never have been built, which an independent public inquiry demonstrated would be useless for congestion and for business, as well as massively unsustainable."Mr Harvie, who was convener of Holyrood's transport committee until last month's election, added: "Most Glasgow households rely on public transport, and if we had invested to meet their needs, far more people would have benefited.

"Ministers should be ashamed of themselves, not celebrating this massive waste of taxpayers' money."

Friends of the Earth Scotland chief executive Stan Blackley said: "Glasgow has one of the worst records for nitrogen dioxide air pollution in the UK, and the M74 completion will do nothing to solve that. In fact, it may just make the problem worse."