THE new Forth bridge could be delayed by problems with the way the Scottish Government plans to fund it, opposition politicians claimed yesterday.
The concerns were raised in a debate on the SNP's proposed Scottish Futures Trust, which it plans to use to fund infrastructure projects.
Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs warned the delay over setting up the trust, and confusion over how to rai
se private finance, could mean the £4.2 billion project would miss its 2013 deadline.
But John Swinney, the finance secretary, insisted he would bring a statement forward by the end of the year on financing the bridge. And he claimed he had brought certainty to the project after "years of dithering" by Liberal Democrat ministers.
Iain Gray, Labour's finance spokesman, said he remembered when cars had to cross the Forth in small ferries, adding: "If we have to wait much longer, there will be queues of car drivers waiting to catch ferries again."
A Liberal Democrat motion to force the Scottish Government to bring forward its financing plans was defeated.
Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrats' finance spokesman, said Mr Swinney did not know how to pay for the bridge. He said this was because the finance secretary's preferred funding method of not-for-profit distribution (NPD) was as expensive as public-private partnerships, and a plan to issue "bridge bonds" was dropped because it was illegal.
His argument has been backed by the Green Party, which claims to have one estimate that the bridge would cost £42 billion under a 30-year NPD contract.
The full article contains 268 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
