M80 MOTORWAY PPP

Upgrading of the only non-motorway section of the Glasgow to Stirling trunk road between Stepps and Haggs (18 km) to motorway standard. The link forms part of the TEN-Transport network in Scotland.

The project is designed to meet the five operational objectives of the promoter namely, to enhance the environment, safety, the economy, regional integration and accessibility.

The proposed project falls within Annex I of the EU Directive 97/11/EC and 2003/35/EC on environmental assessment as applied through the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999. Accordingly, an Environmental Statement (ES) plus related Draft Orders and a Non Technical Summary were made public in November/December 2004. The preparation of these documents was accompanied by extensive public consultation as required under the regulations. As a result of certain public objections to the Draft Orders that were not withdrawn by the complainants, a public local inquiry was held in October 2005. The recommendations of the inquiry and the Minister’s decision to overrule the objections and go ahead with the project as planned were made public in July 2006.

Procurement of the PPP company will be conducted in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 using the restricted procedure after open tender. The promoter issued an OJEU advertisement in September 2006 and has recently announced the short-list of three bidders.