After ferries and BiFab, another costly shambles

Taxpayer bill for waterworks doubles to £230m

SOARING costs mean an upgrade to Scotland’s water network has almost doubled in price to £230million.

It is the latest in a series of public infrastructure projects to be criticised over their management.

The revelation comes only days after a Holyrood i nquiry i nto two overdue and over-budget ferries branded the management process a ‘catastrophic failure’.

It also follows the collapse of steel fabrication firm BiFab despite SNP pledges.

In 2015, then infrastructure secretary Keith Brown launched the Ayrshire Strategic Resilience Scheme with a budget of £120million for work that would take four years.

The Scottish Water project aimed to improve the network with 30 miles of new mains to connect systems in Ayrshire and Greater Glasgow. But new figures have highlighted an overspend of more than £100million.

According to officials, the scale and complexity of the scheme led to soaring costs, as well as the need for additional equipment and right of access to private property.

Despite Mr Brown’s pledge on the budget, officials did not foresee the issues which led to the rising costs.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘This is another example of the Scottish Government’s failure to control infrastructure projects and its willingness to pour money down the drain.’

Figures released by the Scottish Government show that to September last year, £146.5million had been spent. Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said an additional £83.7million was needed to complete the project.

Miss Baillie said: ‘If the failures of financial control on hospitals and ferries are not enough, now we have water services.

‘No wonder water charges are set to double if this sort of management failure has to be paid for.

‘The Auditor General should be brought in to have a look at this scandalous overspend and check whether the Water Industry Commission and Scottish Government have done their jobs properly.’

It emerged earlier this year that the Water Industry Commission Scotland watchdog had published papers setting out the likely pricing structure for 2021-27.

It could mean households are put on a ‘price escalator’ for the next 20 years in a bid to fund Scottish Water’s net-zero emissions target.

Bosses have signalled water bills could double by 2040, with a likely rise of 2 per cent per year.

A Scottish Water spokesman said: ‘The costs of the Ayrshire Resilience project have changed – but we are still within the challenging financial l i mits set by our i ndependent economic regulator for 2015-2021.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘It is not true that water charges will double.

‘We fully recognise the importance of affordability of charges and will ensure customers’ circumstances are taken fully into account.’