Public in dark over cost of big transport projects

THE Scottish Government has kept the public in the dark about the multi-billion pound costs of the country’s biggest transport projects in the coming decades, a public spending watchdog has found.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner produced the report. Picture: Contributed

About £7.5 billion will be spent over the next 30 years on schemes such as the new Forth crossing, upgrades to the M8 and the Aberdeen bypass.

The schemes will cost about £3.8bn to build, with the rest made up in maintenance costs.

But public spending watchdog Audit Scotland today raises big questions over the cost of several schemes and warns that ministers must “improve their public reporting”.

“They have not informed the public or Scottish Parliament of the combined estimated financial commitment arising from these projects,” a startling report by the watchdog finds.

The cost estimates of many of the schemes has also been “incomplete or inconsistently” presented, the reports adds.

But all five schemes – including the Borders Rail Link and Edinburgh-Glasgow rail improvements (Egip) – are expected to be built on budget.

Alex Salmond is determined to use major projects to help kick-start the ailing economy and revive the construction sector. But it comes at a time when budgets are being squeezed and the report has prompted opposition concerns that costs could “spiral out of control”.

Auditor General Caroline Gardner pointed out that while the Scottish Government said these projects would be affordable, it has never shown how.

The report, Scotland’s Key Transport Infrastructure Projects, sets out the costs to build five key transport projects under way in Scotland. These include the £1.46bn Forth Replacement Crossing, the largest public transport project in a generation, and the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (£745 million), which has been caught up in red tape and court challenges since being announced by former First Minister Jack McConnell more than a decade ago.

The Edinburgh-Glasgow rail improvement project (£650m), M8 improvements (£588m) and Borders railway (£353m) were also looked at by the auditors.

Ms Gardner called on the government and Transport Scotland – the agency responsible for improving the public transport infrastructure – to set out detailed ­financial reports on the total costs by the end of the year.

Labour’s transport spokeswoman Elaine Murray said: “This report shows the SNP believe they are accountable to no-one.”

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: “Taxpayers are funding these schemes, so they deserve to be kept fully informed.”

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Tavish Scott said: “As Audit Scotland makes clear, the SNP should be doing a lot more to improve accountability.”

The long-term costs of the new Forth bridge have been made public, but concerns are raised over the other four schemes in the report.

“Transport Scotland’s and the Scottish Government’s reporting has been inconsistent and incomplete,” it states. “Reports on the various projects, timescales and cost estimates have not been consistently based and have not been clear on what is excluded from these estimates.”

Both the Aberdeen bypass and M8 improvements have “significant uncertainty” about how much they will cost to finance.

They are being funded through the “non-profit distribution” (NPD) finance schemes, a variation of the former private finance initiative (PFI) schemes, and Transport Scotland says it has made “prudent” estimates of the cost.

But the report says: “Any estimating error could be significant as financing costs for these projects could represent about a third or more of the total expected cost of each contract to Transport Scotland.”

Transport Scotland’s latest estimate for the M8 improvements is £588m and “significantly exceeds” the £415m publicly announced cost, the report adds.

Similarly, the £650m cost attributed to the Edinburgh-Glasgow rail upgrade is “particularly uncertain”, according to Audit Scotland. It says financial reports do not include important information, such as the costs of subsidies and rolling stock.

Audit Scotland is calling for a “standard approach” to presenting cost estimates and monitoring for high-value projects, costing more than £20m, to be introduced by Transport Scotland by the end of the year.

Transport minister Keith Brown said no government since devolution has embarked on such an “ambitious programme of investment to transform our transport infrastructure”.

“We are making record investment that will improve links and boost economic recovery,” he added. “We continuously look to improve our processes.

“Whilst this report provides us with useful assurance around risk management, we will take forward the recommendations to see where further improvements can be made.”

SEE ALSO:

• {http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/borders-rail-link-must-be-given-clear-timetable-1-2972702|‘Borders rail link must be given clear timetable’|Getty)