Letter: Loan powers vital for Forth Crossing

IT SEEMS many politicians are coming round to the Scottish Building Federation's view that proposals to give the Scottish Government borrowing powers worth £200 million per year from 2013 should be implemented with immediate effect (News, 20 February).

There can be no doubt that the decision to foot the entire 2 billion bill for the new Forth Crossing up front using public capital spending will place other categories of capital investment under significant strain.

Coupled with a huge cut in the capital heading of the Scottish budget, we can expect far less funding to be available for schools, hospitals and affordable housing - at a time when we ought to be ramping up investment in all these areas to help build a sustainable economic recovery.

In the current climate, investment in these areas is equally crucial to help sustain jobs, skills and capacity in the Scottish construction industry.

In the face of these facts, surely we should be pulling out all the stops right now to make more money available for capital projects?

Any commitment to fast-track new borrowing powers and spread the cost of the new Forth Crossing over a longer time period will have the full backing of the construction industry.

Michael Levack, Chief Executive, Scottish Building Federation, Edinburgh