M74 extension costs rise to �692m

The cost of the extension has drawn close to �700m

The estimated final bill for the M74 extension through Glasgow and South Lanarkshire has risen by �35m.

According to the financial watchdog, Audit Scotland, the five-mile motorway project will now cost about �692m - more than double the original estimate.

Transport Scotland said 95% of costs were now fixed.

The remaining 5% would depend on final bills for land compensation, utility diversions and supervising the site during the three-year construction.

When the project was commissioned by the Labour/Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive, the cost was originally estimated at �250m.

This was later revised to between �375m and �500m.

'Cost optimism'

In February, the cost was stated as �445m plus an allowance of about �12m to deal with mineworkings.

With the �200m already spent, this took the projected cost to �657m.

But the Audit Scotland report into public construction schemes across the country found that in many cases "early cost and time estimates were too optimistic".

A spokesman for Transport Scotland said the M74 extension would "still deliver a cost-benefit ratio of about five to one for every pound spent".

Work on the five-mile extension officially started in May.

It is expected to open in 2011, connecting the M74 to the M8, west of the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow.

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