Blame and accusations are holding back major SIC projects, councillor claims
A senior councillor has claimed major projects have been held back due to poor procurement and departmental infighting.
Development committee chairman Dennis Leask has called for senior management to “get around the table” and find out why everything seemed to take so long.
Speaking at today’s (Monday) policy and resources committee meeting, Mr Leask highlighted the Fair Isle ferry replacement, the new Cullivoe road and the inter-island connectivity programme, which includes looking at tunnels, as examples.
He said procurement had been “far from effective” and he “struggled to understand” what was causing the delays.
The Lerwick South member claimed council departments blamed one another for the delays and there were “always accusations from various people” .
“I think it’s time we got around the table and looked into why these delays are happening,” he said
“Because they are holding back our programmes significantly.”
Corporate services director Christine Ferguson defended officials working on the projects saying some had been particularly difficult due to procurement challenges.
Earlier this year the council had to re-tender the Cullivoe road project after “anomalies” were identified with the tendering exercise.
Mrs Ferguson said such challenges made it “incredibly difficult” to maintain “momentum” with the work,
She said staff were “pulling out all the stops” and there was a “huge amount” of effort going on behind the scenes.
The director said this was particularly the case for the Fair Isle ferry replacement, which had been a “huge challenge”.
Mrs Ferguson also said she was “very concerned” to hear Mr Leask’s comments about accusations and blame.
Phil Cornwell
“Some had been difficult due to procurement challenges” doesn’t really explain what or why it was difficult.
The number of consultants paid to do feasibility studies on behalf of the council gives the appearance that councillors and officers are afraid of making a decision incase it’s not the best possible decision while failing to realise the delay is worse than a less than perfect but quick decision.
What if the consultants recommend buying the new Fair Isle ferry from Ferguson Marine (Glen Sannox) would councillors and officers challenge that recommendation – I suspect not because they would have someone else to blame…
Bob Marsh
Sadly in my opinion based on past ownership of many similar vessels, it was that project’s consultants report and recommendation of vessel type and size that has led to the huge, reportedly up to £45 million, expense for this Fair Isle project. Much of this relates to ports development costs to accommodate the type and size of monohull proposed that could otherwise have been met by focus on continuing to utilise what has worked well there for many years, and a modern fast vessel.
The huge exercise cost saving could have been redirected to much needed ferry fleet renewal of benefit to all islanders.