Audit Scotland report at-a-glance

Here is a summary of his main findings.

• Both projects went through the parliamentary approval process to obtain authority to proceed and were developed in response to national, regional and local transport strategies.
• The current anticipated final cost of Phase 1 of the tram project is £593.8m and estimated project costs were subjected to robust testing.
• The Scottish Executive committed to provide up to £500m for Phase 1a of the trams project and Edinburgh City Council a further £45m, with funding for Phase 1b yet to be confirmed.
• A total of £79m was spent on the project up to the end of May 2007, including £17m to take the project through the parliamentary process.
• Some "slippage" in the trams project occurred.
• There was a clear corporate governance structure in place to manage the trams project, well defined project management and organisation, sound financial management and reporting, good risk management procedures, and a procurement strategy aimed at minimising risk.
• The Edinburgh Airport rail link project (Earl) is expected to cost between £550 and £650m, but there was less certainty about current cost estimates as it is at a relatively early stage.
• Earl is unlikely to be delivered by the target date of the end of 2011.
• A lack of agreement over governance arrangements and a procurement strategy had obstructed progress with Earl, meaning a number of key decisions still needed to be made before there could be more certainty about the cost and time targets.
• There was a higher degree of uncertainty about the Earl project than might be expected.
• Earl is expected to be paid for mainly from public funds, but this had still to be settled.
• About £20m had been spent on the project so far, including £4m to take it through the parliamentary process.