Following reports that the cost for the delivering HMP Highland have risen to nearly £140m, Edward Mountain MSP said:
“The cost for the long-delayed prison is rocketing and we are all paying a high price for the SNP’s decade long failure to deliver this project for the Highlands.
“What is so frustrating is that this situation was completely avoidable.
“Highlanders will remember being promised a new prison back in 2011 and, had it been delivered sooner, we would now have a prison for a fraction of today’s building cost.
“Even worse, another six month delay has been added to the delivery timeline and the contracts for the main construction have still to be awarded. The Scottish Prison Service can’t even confirm when the facility will be operational either.
“Meanwhile, our hardworking prison staff continue to work in a Victorian prison that is no longer fit for purpose and which has repeatedly struggled with overcrowding.
“This SNP Government has been working at a snail’s pace to deliver a modern prison for far too long.
“It’s now time for this project to be fast-tracked before the costs spiral further out of control.”
