Tram chiefs 'are deceiving the public' over completion date

The consortium charged with building the multi-million pound network is said to have warned officials last September it would not finish work until late 2013, almost three years later than envisaged.

At that time, city council leader Jenny Dawe dismissed claims the project was running more than two years behind schedule as "nonsense".

However, The Scotsman has learned the extent of the firm's concerns was made clear to TIE and the council within weeks of the two parties entering a formal period of dispute in August 2009.

Sources close to German firm Bilfinger Berger, the company leading the consortium, said TIE has been "well aware" for months that it was claiming an extra 100 million due to delays in the programme agreed between the two parties.

Senior figures involved in the tram scheme admitted yesterday that Bilfinger Berger's position had been well known to TIE for "many months" but had chosen not to disclose them for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Critics have called for an end to the secrecy over the project and a full investigation to be carried out into who knew what and when within the tram firm.

The construction giant's latest dire warnings that the final completion date could be as late as January 2014 were only made public last Wednesday after a crunch meeting of the tram company's board, with TIE officials insisting the consortium is overexaggerating the extent of problems in a bid to secure more money.

The revelations have triggered a new war of words over the fate of the tram project, which is opposed by the SNP-led Scottish Government and half of the coalition running Edinburgh city council.

A statement issued after the meeting attacked the consortium for delivering an "unacceptable" revised programme with a completion date of January 2014.

The original completion date for the scheme was February 2011, but this has already been put back several times, most recently last week, when TIE insisted independent experts it had brought in said the work could be completed by the summer of 2012.

Last September, TIE was claiming publicly that the planned completion date was still the spring of 2012.

SNP MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville came in for a barrage of criticism last year after revealing sources close to the project had informed her it was running two years later than had been admitted and was at least 100m over budget.

At the time Mrs Dawe branded her claims "a lot of nonsense and unbelievably unhelpful", while TIE said that "there is nothing to suggest that the programme will extend beyond 2012".

One source close to the project said yesterday: "

The longer TIE continues to dispute the extent of the delays with the project, the more the final date will be put back. It is now looking like January 2014 because of the legal disputes that have been ongoing for the last six months."

Steve Cardownie, leader of the SNP group on the council and an arch critic of the project, said: "There is far too much smoke and mirrors going on.

"I am going to pursue this to try to find out who knew exactly what and when. It's one thing not to comment at all, but quite another to rubbish claims about Bilfinger Berger's position. People are being deliberately kept in the dark and it's not good enough."

Mrs Dawe has agreed to give councillors a detailed briefing on the project amid fears they have not been kept updated on the extent of the problems with the project consortium.

Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport leader, and a member of the TIE board, defended the decision not to disclose the extent of Bilfinger Berger's warnings last autumn on the grounds they had not been accepted by the tram firm.

He added: "Their position has been made clear to TIE over many, months, but we believe their claims are wholly unsubstantiated. There is absolutely no question of a cover-up.

"We have an independent analysis of the project carried out, which has shown that all the work could be carried out by the summer of 2012."

WHAT THEY SAID

"Even the best-case scenario we are still looking at 650 million. On the delivery date, we are looking at some people suggesting 2013, which is a two-year delay."

MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville, 30 September, 2009

"Not only is this information incorrect but it is deeply damaging to the positive progress of the project. Categorically there is nothing to suggest the programme will extend beyond 2012."

Tram firm TIE, 30 September, 2009

"The latest revised programme provided by the contractor Bilfinger Berger proposes an additional delay which would extend this by a further 30 months to a completion date of January 2014."

Tram firm TIE, 11 March, 2010

Bilfinger Berger claims 100m would be a "conservative" estimate for the cost of a series of contractual disputes it has won against tram firm TIE.

Leaked letter from Bilfinger UK's managing director, Richard Walker, to senior executive members of the council