Few or no major projects for Scotland this year

Few or no new major Scottish construction projects will come to the market in 2009 because of the time it is taking to set up a new public procurement method.

That's the warning from Scottish Building Federation chief executive Michael Levack, who is concerned that the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), the successor to PFI in Scotland, is taking too long to set up and is delaying privately financed projects as a result.

"I am really concerned that we will not see any new major projects moving forward in Scotland this year, which clearly isn't good," he said.

He added: "The other question that remains unanswered is that in the current state of financial chaos we have, will the banks want to participate in the Scottish Futures Trust?

"The language that [finance secretary] John Swinney has used in the consultation document and everything since then is really robust in terms of capping the returns of the equity providers."

The SFT was thought likely to be used to finance the £2bn construction of the new Forth Road Bridge, but was ruled out and the project is now being traditionally funded.

But a Scottish government spokesman insisted that the SFT would start bringing work on stream, initially through "hub projects" in areas like healtcare.

The Scottish government will provide £1.4m in funding to set up each pathfinder and an additional £30m of capital funding in support of projects.

"With respected banker Sir Angus Grossart as chairman, SFT is working with partners across the public sector to achieve its goal of achieving up to £150m annually in improved value from public infrastructure investment in Scotland," he said.