THE cost of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR / B-T) contract has been driven down by almost £220 million over the life of the contract, the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, Keith Brown has announced.
The contract to construct, maintain, finance and operate the new roads, which is the largest contract to be awarded as part of the Scottish Government’s Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model, has officially been awarded to Aberdeen Roads limited, formerly known as Connect Roads.
Cabinet Secretary Minister Keith Brown, said, “While the overall estimated scheme costs remain at £745 million, the contract value, which is around £550 million in net present value terms, is almost £220 million less than the pre-tender estimate and amounts to a reduction in payments over the life of the contract of approximately £26.5 million per year. The capital cost of construction also came in under the £472 million estimate, (cost at 2012), by £11 million on a like for like basis. Our robust procurement approach has been successful in driving efficiencies in both the long term maintenance operations and the funding of the project.
“Following the procurement process – the shortest ever for a project of this size and complexity – we are also bringing forward the scheduled completion dates for the Craibstone and Dyce Junctions by autumn 2016 and the Balmedie to Tipperty section by spring 2017, following requests from our stakeholders and subsequent discussions with the contractor.”
The contractor is planning to deliver a more durable ‘long-life’ road, which will reduce the future maintenance requirements by providing a more cost effective long term solution, as well as minimising disruption to road users. Over 30 years, on a 58km road, these savings are significant. The shortened construction schedule announced previously, with project completion now due in winter 2017, has also helped to keep construction costs to a minimum.
Councillor Jenny Laing, Leader of Aberdeen City Council, added, “Aberdeen City Council has committed up to £75m to this project so I am certain that the public will be relieved and pleased to learn that we have reached financial close and that work to build the road can now begin.”
Leader of Aberdeenshire Council Cllr Jim Gifford said, “This project will bring substantial benefits to communities, businesses and individuals across the whole of the north-east and, quite rightly, there have been important, detailed processes to follow to allow us to get to this stage. This is the biggest civil engineering project this area has ever seen and I am proud of what we have achieved so far in partnership with our colleagues in Aberdeen City Council and Scottish Government.”
