Roads bust the budgets
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• Every road building project completed in the past five years ran over budget.
Highways Agency figures show that overspending is running as high as 86%. Labour says: "The Government's roads spending is not accountable. 'Phe Government must answer why, time after time, it allows final figures to be above the tender price," But the Highways Agency says: "Roads spending has always been carefully controlled with well-established contract arrangements. With competitive tendering, contractors are bound to their quoted price other than where unexpected costs can be validated by an independent engineer. Because of the nature of design and build work, sometimes we have been left to bear the costs of unforeseeable claims."
The agency adds that the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) should stop taxpayers footing the hill for extra road costs.
"Overspending is not unusu
al," says the Freight Transport Association. "The most important implication is that it leaves less money in the pot for other essential but neglected schemes. Private funding will only improve matters if it's in addition to government money. The problem with PEI schemes is that they will replace government financing."