Tram fiasco company had no civil engineers on board
THE company in charge of the troubled Edinburgh tram project had no civil engineers on board, the inquiry heard yesterday.
Costs for what was supposed to be a £375million project spiralled to £1billion and it was eventually completed three years late.
A former chief executive of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the city council’s arms-length company that managed the scheme, told the inquiry it employed people who were unsuitable for the job.
Michael Howell, who was in charge at TIE in the early days, said: ‘I was surprised and remain surprised about the people who were chosen to be members of TIE because TIE was there to manage an array of important civil engineering projects.
‘We didn’t have anyone who was a civil engineer or who had experience of working on that type of project. So I did feel like we needed to have people who... had experience of projects like the trams.’
The inquiry was shown an email indicating that Mr Howell’s departure in 2006 was down to his poor working relationship with TIE chairman Willie Gallagher.
Mr Howell said: ‘I was, I feel, the right person to lead TIE through that period. I had never set myself out to be the person who was going to take it through to final construction. So this was not the wrong time, but the wrong manner of my departure.
‘I honestly feel that some of the people we had transferred from the council were not particularly impressive.’
Former Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh Steve Cardownie echoed these views, saying: ‘Some of the individuals who were appointed to TIE were not equipped for the job. That’s why I wasn’t surprised.
‘It was put to us that Willie Gallagher would take up post as chief executive. I believe he was already chairman. I objected because I was told it was not good governance practice.’
Mr Cardownie added: ‘We certainly knew there were personality clashes in TIE. We were informed that some people didn’t get on with each other.
‘The chief executive of the council was telling us that Willie Gallagher didn’t get on with people in TIE. There was personality clashes in TIE and we felt they were not working as well as they could because of that.’
Transport Scotland’s former major projects director Ainslie McLaughlin told the inquiry there were discussions on whether or not control of the project could have been taken from TIE because of concerns over its ability to handle it.
Mr McLaughlin said: ‘By the end of 2009 and into 2010 it was evident that the contract was in difficulty, that there was serious contention between TIE and the contractor and there was comment on the part of the ministers as to whether TIE could see it through.
‘We did discuss with Scottish ministers what practical steps we could take to intervene or take over the project and there was none that were practical or credible at that time.
‘In retrospect it would’ve been desir-able to have some control, but there wasn’t a mechanism for doing that credibly.’
The inquiry continues.