A staggering £246.7 million – more than half of the money spent on the project so far – has been handed over to cover “preparation costs”.

Transport bosses have paid design consultants and planners almost double what has been spent on actual construction to dual the A9.

We can reveal a staggering £246.7 million – more than half of the total money spent on the project so far – has been handed over to cover “preparation costs” including designers.

This figure dwarfs the £133 million spent on construction, £62 million spent on ground investigation and surveys, and £9 million on land purchases.

The latest costs were revealed following a freedom of information request to the Scottish Government.

Completion of the project to dual the stretch between Perth and Inverness has been delayed by 10 years until 2035, confirmed in a government statement before Christmas.

Project repeatedly delayed

Alex Neil, the former SNP minister who was responsible for committing to the works, warned it could now go more £1 billion over budget.

He previously told MSPs that a “realistic” and fully-costed 2025 target date for completion was set out by officials from the government agency Transport Scotland in May 2012, on his instruction.

Within a decade, officials were saying the date was not attainable.

The project has repeatedly been delayed, despite campaigners warning lives are being lost every year while deadlines are extended.

Laura Hansler, from the A9 Dual Action Group, said it beggars belief that so much has been spent on planning while so little work has been done.

She said:

“It seems ludicrous that so much money has already been spent on design and planning without a single shovel being in the ground.

“It’s a bit rich for them to go on about getting value for money when such vast amounts  are already being spent in this way.

“Bearing in mind that they have only delivered 11 miles in the past 16 years, how they think they’re going to deliver another 44 in the next five years, let alone the whole project by 2035, is completely beyond me.”

Setting a glacial pace

Earlier this year, members of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association accused the government of deliberately setting a “glacial” pace because of a lack of funding.

They claimed the civil engineering sector in Scotland has known for many years that the promise to dual the A9 by 2025 would not be met.

The group also blamed a “dated” bespoke contract which places all financial risk on the contractor for issues such as weather and ground conditions.

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson said the SNP-Green government

“mismanagement” of infrastructure “seemingly knows no end”.

He added: “Instead of dualling the A9 from Perth to Inverness by 2025 as they promised, they have dualled less than 20% of the necessary sections, invested at rate that would take over a century to make up the necessary project budget, and spent twice as much on design consultants as on actual construction.

“Communities along the A9 have been crying out for concrete progress and they are angry that the SNP have so little to show after so long.

“Not only have they under-funded this key project, they have been shockingly inefficient with the funding they have actually put forward.”

SNP transport chief Màiri McAllan told MSPs that the cost of the project is now expected to be £3 billion, making it one of the most expensive in the history of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government first pledged to dual the long stretch of road shortly after taking power in 2007.

It will be at least another seven years until even half of the overall project has been completed.

Construction on the first section – the £35 million, 4.6 mile Kincraig to Dalraddy stretch – started in 2015 and was completed in 2017.

What does Transport Scotland say?

A Transport Scotland spokesman described dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness as one of the biggest and most complex transport infrastructure projects in the country’s history.

He said it requires careful, in-depth planning and design to ensure the delivery of projects that bring benefits to local communities, businesses and road users living, travelling and working along the route.

The spokesman added:

“The up-front preparation costs on the A9 dualling are a normal aspect of delivering infrastructure projects of any scale.

“The design and assessment phase clearly must take place before construction.

“The Transport Secretary confirmed in Parliament the Scottish Government’s commitment to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and set out a concrete plan, meaning that the Highlands can have confidence that A9 dualling will be delivered in full.

“When construction starts on Tomatin to Moy next year, under the delivery programme set out by the Cabinet Secretary, it will roll continually until the route between Perth and Inverness is fully dualled.”

Source: Press & Journal

Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said chancellor Jeremy Hunt had called him asking for support with the plan to attract investment into the £6.5bn central London scheme, but had not followed through.

Ministers announced in October that HS2 would only go to Euston if private cash could be found to pay for the redevelopment of the station and its immediate site.

Reynolds said Mace – which is acting as main contractor on the HS2 Euston project, in a joint venture with Spanish firm Dragados – had expressed willingness to work with the government on the plan but heard nothing back.

“It’s gone into a black hole,” he told London business title City AM.

“The chancellor phones us up and says, ‘can we have your help? Can you come up with a private sector finance proposal?’

“We have a private sector finance proposal […] But they haven’t come back and spoken to us yet.

“While we are happy the government is working to get private money into the project, we’ve heard nothing from them on it yet. It’s a frustration.”

Reynolds said time was of the essence if HS2, which has already been substantially slashed down to a shuttle between west London and Birmingham, is to serve the centre of the capital when it eventually opens. This will require the boring of the 7.2km twin tunnels from Old Oak Common to Euston, which are currently paused until the government gives the green light.

“If you leave it for another six months, then you start running into a problem with Old Oak Common to Birmingham being completed, but Euston not being completed,” Reynolds warned.

“Every day a decision isn’t made […] is a day that HS2 won’t work as a full functioning London to Birmingham system.”

Rail operations consultant William Barter said ministers should prioritise construction of the rapid rail link to central London regardless of where the cash comes from.

“Private finance must not be made a sine qua non of completing HS2 to Euston,” he insisted. “To run any serious train service on HS2, Euston is vital both operationally and commercially, and the government is absolutely wrong to see Euston as a property project with a station as a side-hustle.”

He added: “If ministers really sees private finance as essential, you would expect them to be pursuing it enthusiastically.”

The government paused HS2 work at Euston earlier this year after costs escalated wildly. Reynolds said in September that the decision came “out of nowhere”.

“We had to demobilise 200 people, supply chain and contractors,” he added.

The messaging from within government has been extremely positive on the possibility of attracting private finance for the Euston project.

Transport secretary Mark Harper told the Transport Committee in November that “the interest in delivering Euston with the Development Corporation has actually been very extensive” while rail minister Huw Merriman said he was confident the government could “harness the power of the private sector” to deliver a transformative “life science quarter” at Euston.

Other parties have been less positive. London mayor Sadiq Khan last month poured scorn on the government’s plan to get other parties to fund the Euston development, which is also proposed to include thousands of homes.

“There’s not a cat in hell’s chance of the private sector completely paying the £6.5bn,” he said.

“Who’s going to build the tunnel from Euston to Euston Square? Who’s going to build the connection from Euston to Old Oak Common? Who’s going to improve the public realm? Who’s going to give permission for 10,000 homes and the impact on the local community?”

National Infrastructure Commission chair Sir John Armitt also told the Financial Times that he thought it unlikely that the private finance plan would succeed.

“At the end of the day the government will need to be ready to fund the core civil engineering for the final miles of the project,” Armitt told the FT.

A Department for Transport spokesperson insisted this week:

“As has always been the case, the line will finish at Euston.

“The new plan for Euston represents a world class regeneration opportunity that offers greater value for money for taxpayers. Our approach has been successfully carried out recently – including in regenerating Battersea Power Station and King’s Cross – and there has already been significant interest from the private sector to invest.”

Source: Civil Engineer