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So many projects at once - can Scotland cope?

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Published Date: 24 November 2006
By BILL JAMIESON
SCOTLAND today stands on the brink of an infrastructure boom. Major transport projects now clamour for attention. Taken together, they could transform our society and economy, providing something akin to a China-style Great Leap Forward in connectivity and access.
But are we taking on too much all at once? And which projects could end up as casualties?

Projects range from the M74 completion (cost: £375-£500 million) to the Borders rail link (£130 million), the Glasgow Airport to city-centre rail link (£160...

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Porty Nat,

Edinburgh 24/11/2006 12:00:44

A fine article, in all but one respect. The SNP is not opposed to an Edinburgh airport rail link - only to the one proposed, with those expensive tunnels and need for as yet undesigned new rolling stock.

The best definition of the cause of inflation I've ever heard is that of 'too much money chasing too few goods'. That's what's going to happen with all those projects on the go - each competing for labour & materials, and against a prestige Olympic project which must be delivered to time and for which Westminster will ensure that money is no object.

The best solution is to take out unnecessary costs and complexity. With the Barnett squeeze set to make public finances ever tighter in future years, if a surface link could be delivered which offers the same benefits as EARL, at possibly 1/3 or less of the current projected cost, without the risk of tunnelling under a busy runway, Ministers would be insane not to take that option. Wouldn't they?

2

Thomas the Tank,

Edinburgh 25/11/2006 10:45:21

Well said, Porty Nat. Another large chunk of fat screaming out to be trimmed off is the so-called 'Edinburgh Tram Link' - in reality, a single line proposed between the Airport (maybe)(so what is EARL for?) to somewhere near (for reasons that remain obscure) the grandly-titled (but still to be built) 'Waterfront Project', itself mired in controversy, murky dealings and alleged conflicts of interest. It alone accounts for more than 20% of Bill Jamieson's 'surely not?? - Shopping List' - more than a new Forth Bridge. The TramCar project is nothing more than a vanity/legacy Darien Scheme by a small cabal of senior councillors and officials. Most of them are leaving/have left the Council - Scrap it now in favour of real, nationally-strategic transport projects - yes, even the Waverley Route.


 

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