Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015: progress report 2017

Foreword

Infrastructure investment is at the heart of our economic strategy and this annual progress report on our Infrastructure Investment Plan outlines key achievements over the course of the last year and looks forward to developments during this year and beyond.

Since 2007 we have delivered major infrastructure improvements for the people of Scotland and significant progress continues to be made as demonstrated by this report and by our accompanying published pipeline of project activity. In 2017 we delivered major infrastructure priorities such as the opening of the Queensferry Crossing, the largest bridge of its type and a complex engineering feat. We saw the completion of the so-called ‘missing link’ between Glasgow and Edinburgh with the opening of the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project and the first section of A9 Dualling Programme was completed with the opening of the Kincraig to Dalraddy section.

We saw one of the most advanced hospitals in the country completed with the opening of the new Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary as well as the completion of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service’s new national centre at the Heriot-Watt Research Park in Edinburgh. Over the course of the last year we also saw no fewer than forty one school projects completed within the Scottish Government supported Schools for the Future building programme.

In total over the course of last year and up to March 2018, infrastructure projects worth £3 billion opened to the public or completed construction within our project pipeline. Our project pipeline publication also shows that infrastructure projects totalling £4.1 billion are estimated to be in construction across Scotland during the remainder of 2018 alone. It shows that major projects such as the A90 Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty road scheme, the electrification of the Stirling Dunblane Alloa rail line and the V&A Museum of Design in Dundee are all expected to complete construction and become operational in 2018.

In addition to this progress report and our project pipeline, an accompanying update has also been published on the progress of major capital projects. Our aim is to give the market and other interested stakeholders a clear overview of our long-term investment plans and the progress we are making and we will continue to update these regularly on our website. All of these reports can be found way of the following link: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/IIP

Our £4 billion commitment in 2018-19 to new infrastructure investment will support 50,000 new homes, investment in early learning and childcare facilities, new roads and railways, electric vehicles and the delivery of 100% superfast broadband to every corner of Scotland. We look forward to continuing to work with the private sector, local government, and all our stakeholders to ensure that collectively we maximise the benefits of infrastructure investment to the people of Scotland.

Keith Brown MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work