Thank you for the opportunity to come before the committee again to provide an update on transport.
We estimate that the Scottish Government’s capital investment programme for 2013-14 will be around £3.2 billion and that it will support about 40,000 jobs across the Scottish economy. That is good news for our economy and for our construction industry, which we know benefits from the certainty and the vision for the future that the infrastructure investment plan provides.
As we set out in our budget plans for 2014-15, we expect to secure further investment of over £8 billion in 2014-15 and 2015-16 from a combination of the capital budget, the new borrowing powers that we will get in 2015-16, revenue funded investment through the non-profit-distributing programme, the regulatory asset base—which obviously relates to rail projects—general rail enhancements, capital receipts, and allocation of some resource funding to capital assets.
Obviously, if the result of the referendum in September is a yes vote, we will have the full prudent use of borrowing powers that nation states have and so we could, in our view, bring forward investment more quickly, which would make a very substantial difference to our economy at that point and later in the future.
We have made significant progress in delivering our IIP over the course of last year across all the sectors, in transport, in particular. I will mention the completion of the second of three major contracts that are required to deliver the Forth replacement crossing scheme: the upgrade of M9 junction 1a, at a cost of £26 million.
On other aspects of transport policy, there is the redevelopment of rail stations at Dalmarnock in Glasgow at a cost of £12 million, and Haymarket in Edinburgh at a cost of £26 million, which are both part of the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme.
There has been significant progress on IIP programmes and projects elsewhere in the transport sector, including design of the A9 dualling from Perth to Inverness. The draft orders for the 7.5km section that is to be dualled between Kincraig and Dalraddy were published in November 2013 and design consultancy services, with a contract value of about £120 million to £180 million for the programme, are in procurement.
On the design of the A96 dualling from Inverness to Aberdeen, preliminary development work and strategic environmental assessment work are under way along the corridor between Inverness and Aberdeen. Route option design work is being progressed for the section of the A96 between Inverness and Nairn, including the Nairn bypass.
I return briefly to the Forth replacement crossing. The committee received a specific update from the project team early in March, so I will just restate that in September 2013 the budget was reduced by £145 million to between £1.4 billion and £1.45 billion. That compares to an opening tender band—if you like—of between £1.75 billion and £2.25 billion. The project remains on schedule for completion in 2016. I was there last week; I believe that the committee also intends to go and have a look on site. The scale of it is quite incredible and I am sure that members will be impressed when they see it.
The final business case for the Edinburgh to Glasgow rail improvement programme has recently been published and is predicated on a capital outturn cost of £742 million for phase 1, which will be fully delivered by March 2019. As a precursor to the formal Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007—TAWS—process, Network Rail is currently consulting on the £120 million transformation of Glasgow Queen Street station.
The Borders railway project continues to make good progress and is on target against both budget and programme. Construction costs are estimated at £294 million at 2012 prices, with service commencement planned for September 2015, although we continue to work with Network Rail to see whether there is any way that it can be brought forward. The fares structure and timetable that we published in late February will ensure that the train will be an attractive option for travellers, allowing them to go end to end in less than an hour and for under £10.
The contract for the M8, M73 and M74 motorway improvements has recently been awarded at a significantly lower cost than the original expected cost. The project is expected to be completed in 2017. The next phase of the £40 million programme to upgrade the M74 between junction 22 at Gretna and junction 12 at Millbank is starting at the end of March. When the full programme is complete, there will be 80 miles of new road surface, which is the equivalent of 200 football fields—for those who think in terms of football.
The contract for the Aberdeen western peripheral route, including the Balmedie to Tipperty section, is currently in procurement, with contract award expected late this year. Construction is expected to start thereafter. Completion is expected by spring 2018.
On the Glasgow subway modernisation, up to £246 million Scottish Government funding has been given to enable Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to deliver new trains, refurbish stations, upgrade signals, and improve accessibility. Station refurbishment works have been completed on Partick’s platforms and at Ibrox, and will be completed at Kelvinhall before the Commonwealth games start.
Up to £40 million has been committed to fund the core Glasgow fastlink scheme within the SPT business case. The infrastructure that will be completed by mid-2014 will be available for use for the Commonwealth games.
Development of the A82 improvements design is under way, with designers having been appointed to develop a preferred scheme between Tarbet and Inverarnan by spring 2015.
As Mr Ingram knows, construction started in 2013 on the A75 Dunragit bypass. The A75 Hardgrove to Kinmount section, the A77 Symington and Bogend Toll improvements, and the A82 Crianlarich and Pulpit Rock improvements are all expected to be completed this year. Overnight construction works on the A82 Pulpit Rock improvement scheme have resumed this week and will go on until Friday.
I also announced recently that Scotland’s roads will get an additional £10 million upgrade as part of the 2013-14 budget. In the north, the A90 at Stonehaven will be resurfaced and, in the south, major repairs are being made to the Dumfries bypass. Works on bridges include upgraded parapets on structures from the A1 to the M90, and replacement bridge joints on the M8, M80, M9 and A90.
In late February, I announced 29 successful applicants to the community transport vehicle fund, which was recommended by the committee. Although a number of good applications were made, the fund was heavily oversubscribed, with 130 applications seeking a total of £4.1 million from a £1 million scheme. New vehicles are expected to be in operation by the summer.
I know that the committee has a strong interest in active travel. We are increasing investment in active travel by 50 per cent—from £21.35 million for 2012-13 to £32.2 million in 2014-15. In September, we announced an extra £20 million during the next two years for cycling infrastructure. That additional funding includes the £3.6 million that will go to the Leith Walk active travel improvements. Local authorities will be given the chance to bid for the balance of £16.4 million through the Sustrans community links programme.
It is worth pointing out that some of those programmes are much smaller than others that I have mentioned previously, but such projects can have a disproportionately beneficial effect, especially in rural areas. Smaller contracts are often taken up by smaller local companies, which has a knock-on effect on local economies.
Finally, following the recent landslide at the Rest and Be Thankful, where the old military road local diversion was used for the first time, members of the A83 task force held their first update meeting of the year on 18 March. As the work around the Rest and Be Thankful nears completion, the netting that has been installed in the area has already prevented debris from the hillside reaching the road. Investigations at other known landslide high risk areas on the A83 at Cairndow, Glen Kinglas and Loch Shira are on-going, and we are looking at options to provide similar mitigation at those locations. Budget discussions for the next financial year are continuing, but that work is a priority, and I want the level of momentum and commitment that there has been on the A83 to continue in the near future.
If we consider the menu of on-going projects, we see that the work is part of a process that amounts to the modernisation of Scotland’s transport infrastructure. I have not mentioned many things in relation to ferries or aviation, but the things that I have mentioned show that there is a substantive transformative change taking place in the infrastructure. That is underpinned by the fact that we have had underinvestment in our infrastructure for decades. It is not just me saying that; the Secretary of State for Transport, who has obviously forgotten that he used to be a transport minister between 1989 and 1992, said it recently, too. In fact, he has repeated it. We are coming up from a low base.
We cannot do everything at once. We have to prioritise, but in what I have spoken about today there is evidence of major change, not least in terms of having motorways or dual carriageways between all our cities, which most modern developed economies expect.
I hope that that brief overview is helpful to the committee. I look forward to answering questions.