The future of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (tie) must be in the balance. Not only do they have a highly critical report from Audit Scotland - although they are trying to brush this off - but they are under sustained attack from a powerful group of residents which is growing in size and becoming more active in the media day by day.
What has become clear is that tie are hopelessly out of their depth. They rushed through a defective contract with the Bilfiger Berger Consortium and have failed to maintain an adequate working relationship with this highly experienced international engineering firm. As a result the negotiations have stalled and nothing has been achieved for months.
In the meantime, Bilfinger Berger has completed a major, multi-million road project in Scotland which has been finished six months ahead of schedule and under-budget. This simply underlines the inadequacy and inexperience of those running tie, who find themselves totally out of their depth in handling negotiations with a company with such experience and expertise.
It is to be hoped for the sake of every taxpayer in Scotland that tie is soon wound up and any idea of giving them another major project, such as the new Forth Road Bridge, is firmy handled by a group with very much more experience. It would be a national disgrace if tie was allowed to survive.
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