Highways agency must explain rising cost of road building - Leech

12.00.00am GMT Wed 15th Feb 2006

John Leech MP, Liberal Democrat member of the Transport Select Committee, will today question Archie Robertson, Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, about the rising cost of road building.

Research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed how:

· Costs of Highways Agency road schemes - the Targeted Programme of Improvements (TPI) - have an effective overspend of £1bn.

· This equates to a rise of 41%.

· Out of 59 schemes, just 3 (5%) were 'fixed price' contracts.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Transport Select Committee Member, John Leech MP, said "As the debacle over Manchester Metrolink has shown there appears to be one rule for public transport and another for road building.

"Whereas Alistair Darling has dropped plans for trams at any opportunity, arguing that costs are escalating, the road construction industry appears to be allowed to spend ever greater amounts of money.

"Today I will be pressing the Highways Agency's Chief Executive to explain these figures."