Meeting of the Parliament 16 January 2025
I would like to move on.
On Tuesday of this week, Transport Scotland published a report on its assessment of rescheduling and acceleration proposals for the A9 dualling project, which was an issue that the committee referred to in its report.
On the basis of the assessment’s findings, Transport Scotland’s report did not recommend rescheduling or trying to accelerate the dualling programme, although it did recommend that further assessment should be made of the potential for an advanced works contract at Dalnaspidal junction. I have asked Transport Scotland to take that forward.
It should be borne in mind that the potential rescheduling opportunities are limited. The first two contracts for the A9 dualling programme have already been constructed and are operational, the third contract reached the contract award stage in July 2024, and the contract award for the fourth contract is expected in summer 2025. Rescheduling is therefore feasible only in respect of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth contracts, which are due to begin procurement in summer 2025, winter 2026-27, summer 2027 and winter 2028-29 respectively.
However, as the seventh contract, for the section from the pass of Birnam to the Tay crossing, is already scheduled to start at the earliest date possible, based on the expected date of completion of that project’s statutory processes, and is not dependent on any other project, any change of date would mean delaying completion beyond the currently expected date. In practical terms, the scheduling options are therefore limited to the timing of procurement and construction of the fifth contract, for the section from Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, of the sixth contract, which is the A9 north MIM contract, and the eighth contract, which is the A9 central MIM contract.