7 questions MSP Fergus Ewing wants answers to about A9 dualling

Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewings says the level of anger prompted by delays to the A9 dualling project has been on a scale he has not seen in three decades in politics.

• How many more people need to die on the A9 until we’re a priority for Holyrood?

• Fergus Ewing slams SNP's Highland 'betrayal' over A9 dualling

He has called for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of aspects of it by the Scottish Government and its agency Transport Scotland.

The Inverness and Nairn representative said: “An inquiry is now essential because there are so many unanswered questions."

Glaringly obvious bias against north Highlands, says Ross MP

These are his questions, related mainly to a setback on the Tomatin to Moy section of project, in his own words:

• The Scottish Government argues that Brexit and Covid caused problems. These excuses have caused real anger amongst people in the Highlands. Why precisely was Covid a problem since tendering is essentially an office job, Transport Scotland have a very large staff, and therefore their work should not have been impacted? Most of us carried on working during lockdown at home and using digital tech to hold meetings.
• How has Brexit prevented Transport Scotland from doing the job that the taxpayer pays them to do? To cite this as an excuse is surely a very weak argument.
• Why was there only one bidder left when the whole purpose of tendering is to attracts competitive bids. What went wrong and why?
• In particular, why do Transport Scotland, unlike their counterparts in England pass risks to the contractor when these risks are shared in England. I understand these risks include unforeseen ground works and utility relocation
• Why will it take until “autumn” this year to publish a revised timetable for completion of the dualling project when Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government have already had nearly two years since the last Holyrood election to carry out this fairly routine task – one that I have called for since that election.
• What influence has the Green Party had behind the scenes on decision making, since they oppose dualling, despite the number of people who have lost their lives in road traffic incidents on single carriageway sections of the A9?
• Will the Scottish Government now devote much more of their capital budget on the dualling programme – and if not just how long would the dualling take?

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