Holyrood debate hears SNP credibility on the line amid fresh A9 dualling delay concerns as Fergus Ewing warns ‘never make the same mistake twice when you can make it five or six times and be sure’
THE Scottish Parliament’s first-ever full debate on the country’s largest infrastructure project - the A9 dualling programme - has heard of fears more delays are expected despite government assurances.
The SNP originally promised to finish the £3.7 billion project this year - 18 years after first promising to dual the road between Inverness and Perth - before having to set a new deadline of 2035.
Transport Scotland’s response to the findings of the petitions committee inquiry into the project has now forced the Scottish Government to defend itself over a period of failure which has seen just 11 miles of dualling completed in 10 years.
Delays are ‘unacceptable’ for the north of Scotland.
Petitions committee convener Jackson Carlaw’s motion for the debate called for a dedicated committee to “provide oversight and maintain momentum on scrutiny of long-running, multi-session infrastructure projects, such as the A9 dualling programme”.
Excessive secrecy from the government led by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was one of the reasons given by the inquiry for allowing problems and therefore delays to mount, hence the call for more oversight.
This also saw SNP veteran Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing, question earlier this week whether Ms Sturgeon’s “heart was ever in the project” which he - and petitioner Laura Hansler - want speeded up to make the 110-mile stretch safer in a hope of reducing the chances of adding to the hundreds of fatalities on it so far.
And with the SNP keen to re-establish credibility and public trust in the run-up to next year’s Holyrood elections, politically the A9 has never been more important.
Opening the debate, Mr Carlaw underlined this point, saying: “What did become clear to the committee was that a lack of clarity over the availability of funding resulted not just in a failure to deliver this project on time but that the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland's unwillingness to be open and transparent about the challenges being faced has also damaged public trust in the government's ability to deliver the dualling programme.
“The delays experienced are quite frankly unacceptable for those who live and work in the north of Scotland.”
He said the petitions committee was "slightly disappointed" by Transport Scotland's response to its recommendations and added: "This was an opportunity to reflect, to reset, to reboot and to restore public confidence that we won't have have a parliament of MSPs in 2035 having this [same] debate, having had another inquiry into why we still don't have a completed A9."
Faith in the Scottish Government could be ‘utterly shot to pieces’
Mr Ewing – a member of the inquiry committee – reiterated his warning that a failure to regain trust will cost the SNP dear at the ballot box and that any delays will decimate SNP support.
He said: “Somebody once said never make the same mistake twice when you can make them five or six times and be sure of it. Well, this [programme] is almost guaranteed to lead to delays.
“If that happens, then any residual faith in the Scottish government in the Highlands will be utterly shot to pieces.”
The Inverness and Nairn MSP believes the lack of a final decision on funding work on the project north of Drumochter - most of the Highland sections - will be the cause of future delays.
He sought to underline the real impact the lack of dualling has on the north: “We have heard from many people across the chamber about the sad loss of life on the road and I have lost friends and it is devastating for every family involved,” he said.
“The tragedy doesn't just affect them for a short period but for the whole of their lives.
“The Scottish Government has so manifestly failed and I was part of it for a while so although I was never responsible, I can't absolve myself from responsibility, I did speak behind the scenes trying to influence things but was unsuccessful.
“I obeyed the rules and didn't speak out. I think I may have made up for that in the past few years. But I want to be honest because I know the cabinet secretary herself is determined to do what she can and I admire that, it is genuine, I can feel that.
“But with respect, I think a little bit more humility in the response to the request of acceleration would have been seemly and it's not too late for the cabinet secretary to prove that right”.
According to the agreed plan, Dalraddy-Slochd and Crubenmore-Kincraig are to be funded by the private finance option mutual investment model (MIM) - but a final decision on that is expected only later this year, with procurement to begin in 2026/27.
Over the last week, since Transport Scotland and transport secretary Fiona Hyslop released their response to the inquiry - including a rejection of the idea of a memorial for all those who have died on the road.
Cabinet decided to ‘prioritise the completion of the A9 dualling programme’
In this afternoon’s debate, Ms Hyslop repeated Transport Scotland concerns that moves to speed up the dualling programme or complete the most dangerous sections of the road earlier would “negatively impact procurement, construction, supply chains and increase disruption for road users”.
She said it would “be expected to result in a delay of around a year in the overall completion date of the dualling programme”.
In response to an intervention by Mr Ewing she also aimed to make clear that the intention was not to work exclusively on section at a time but that work would often overlap.
“The idea that they're one by one – no,” she said. “The whole point is that there's going to be concurrent work happening across the A9 so there will be work happening in the south of the A9, at the same time as his work on the north of A9.
“The processes for those will be happening simultaneously and that is why actually trying to re-order the current scheduling would have an impact because of concurrent issues that would impact on price but also on certainty of delivery - and certainty is something the committee was very keen on.”
She addressed funding concerns on the private finance option of funding for the Highland section by saying: “If a decision is taken not to make use of MIM contracts on the A9 dualling programme, we would implement an alternative approach such as the use of capital funded design and build contracts.
“And there is a cabinet decision to prioritise the completion of the A9 dualling programme within Scottish Government budgets”.