Scotland’s most senior civil servant is being called on to explain a £500 million difference in the reported cost of key transport projects.
In a report to Holyrood’s public audit committee, Sir Peter Housden, permanent secretary to the Scottish Government, put the capital value of the projects the Forth crossing, the Aberdeen bypass, improvements to the M8, M73 and M74, improvements to the Edinburgh-Glasgow rail line and the new Borders railway at £3.28-£3.43 billion.
A report by Audit Scotland last week estimated the cost of construction at about £3.8 billion.
Committee convener Iain Gray has accused the Government of “not reporting the full costs” of the work”.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “As we have said in response to Audit Scotland’s report, we will consider how to improve our presentation of cost estimates in future, reflecting on their findings.”
