Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, questioned the Cabinet Secretary for Transport in Parliament today following the publication of the statement on the A9 which advised that the proposed Mutual Investment Model (MIM) contracts for five of the remaining sections of the A9 dualling will be replaced by Design and Build Contracts. The new Delivery Plan also highlights that about 40-50 miles of dualling works could be taking place simultaneously which will result in chaos and lengthy delays for road users.
Mrs Grant said “The timeline suggests that about 40-50 miles of the A9 could be under construction at the same time yet the statement makes no mention of contingency for knock on construction delays and neither does it provide any mitigation for lengthy delays for road users at that time.”
The MSP continued “It is clear that there are many risks to this project and therefore I ask would the Cabinet Secretary support the creation of a parliamentary committee dedicated to this project, as happened with the Queensferry crossing, and will she commit the Scottish Government to a duty of candour as called for by the Public Participation Committee.”
Mrs Grant later said “The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged that frustrations will be felt during the dualling period but failed to answer my question asking for a duty of candour for communities and road users involved.
“It appears to be an attitude of if you want the road you have to put up with the delays which takes no cognisance of the costs to businesses during these delays which could have been avoided if the Scottish Government had not dismally failed with the previous deadline for the dualling.”
Rhoda Grant’s question to the Cabinet Secretary is available via the following link:-