----------------- -----------------   |  | Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 11:47 GMT 12:47 UK |
Audit Scotland report at-a-glance | | The auditor general for Scotland, Robert Black, has published his review of the arrangements for managing the delivery of the Edinburgh trams and Edinburgh Airport Rail Link projects. Here is a summary of his main findings. - Both projects went through the parliamentary approval process to obtain authority to proceed and were developed in response to national, regional and local transport strategies.
- The current anticipated final cost of Phase 1 of the tram project is �593.8m and estimated project costs were subjected to robust testing.
- The Scottish Executive committed to provide up to �500m for Phase 1a of the trams project and Edinburgh City Council a further �45m, with funding for Phase 1b yet to be confirmed.
- A total of �79m was spent on the project up to the end of May 2007, including �17m to take the project through the parliamentary process.
- Some "slippage" in the trams project occurred.
- There was a clear corporate governance structure in place to manage the trams project, well defined project management and organisation, sound financial management and reporting, good risk management procedures, and a procurement strategy aimed at minimising risk.
- The Edinburgh Airport rail link project (Earl) is expected to cost between �550 and �650m, but there was less certainty about current cost estimates as it is at a relatively early stage.
- Earl is unlikely to be delivered by the target date of the end of 2011.
- A lack of agreement over governance arrangements and a procurement strategy had obstructed progress with Earl, meaning a number of key decisions still needed to be made before there could be more certainty about the cost and time targets.
- There was a higher degree of uncertainty about the Earl project than might be expected.
- Earl is expected to be paid for mainly from public funds, but this had still to be settled.
- About �20m had been spent on the project so far, including �4m to take it through the parliamentary process.
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