Additional £65-million to be paid to AWPR contractors.

It's been confirmed today that an additional payment of £65-million will be shelled out by the Scottish Government to contractors who worked on the construction of the AWPR.

Initially the deal for the bypass involved a fixed price of £775-million. However, contractors claimed that delays in the process had put costs into the Billions.

They were prepared to take the issue to court in an attempt to recoup funds.

Now an agreement has been reached, and although the Scottish Government still believe they were right in the situation, they decided to pay out in order to avoid the court case.

Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said:

It should also be noted that, if this settlement had not been reached, ARL would have pressed its claims through the courts.

Whilst the Scottish ministers were prepared to mount a robust defence, it was recognised that proceedings could have run for years and led to significant and prolonged exposure to risk, expense and uncertainty as a result.

Ultimately, all parties appreciated that an early commercial settlement was desirable in all the circumstances.''

Opposition have reacted with disappointment to the news.

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman and North East Scotland MSP Mike Rumbles said: The Scottish Government's handling of this project has been nothing short of a shambles.

This confirms my view that the original contract for this so-called fixed price contract was botched from the very beginning.''