AN ADVISER to a respected think-tank wants the A9 privatised – and tolls introduced to pay for the £3billion dualling of the notorious road.
Financial expert Alan McFarlane believes responsibility for the Inverness-Perth trunk road should be taken out of state control and handed over to pension funds. He claims they would then generate the cash needed to give the link an upgrade.
Mr McFarlane said public spending curbs were to blame for delays to the long-awaited dualling project and tolls would be an “easy sell” to motorists on the basis that they would help make the road safer and contribute to their retirement funds.
Mr McFarlane, a founder of Edinburgh-based investment management company Dundas Partners, said pension funds in Canada and Australia already owned major infrastructure, including roads.
But business leaders and north MSPs claimed any plans to charge people to use the A9 would meet fierce opposition – because it is the only major route between the Highland capital and the central belt.
Labour’s Rhoda Grant said: “It is not something I support. I think there would be a rammy and I do not think people would accept it.
“It is not realistic because, when you look at petrol prices and the amount of mileage people in the north cover, we are already paying more tax for road use than anybody else.”
Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Nicol said he would be “extremely concerned” about tolls. “They would be a significant hindrance to businesses, send out the wrong message and would not play well with any part of the community,” he said.
Mr McFarlane, an adviser to independent think-tank Reform Scotland, said he and his family used the A9 about 50 times a year because they enjoyed spending time in Strathspey.
“A lot of pension funds around the world, particularly Canadian and Australian pension funds, are looking at very long-term liabilities,” he said.
“With a toll road, you have a very, very long-lived asset – its utilisation goes up and down with the economy. You can change the pricing in line with inflation so the distributions, the increment you would get from that, is a marvellous asset to fund those pensions.
“So my proposal would be not just toll the A9 or fund the dualling by that method, it would be great if pension funds, in which we are all contributors and owners, owned more of those assets instead of leaving it simply to the state.
“So every time we used it we would think, ‘Great, that is going towards my pension’. I think it would be an easier sell for people.”
Mr McFarlane claimed many people around the world were content for pension fund organisations to be the “custodial owners” of roads.
“If you look at toll roads in America and Italy, they do earn a return for their owners and in many cases those owners are long-term pension funds for the benefit of the people living in that country,” he added.
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch SNP MSP Dave Thompson said he did not believe tolls were necessary because the Scottish Government had already budgeted for the dualling work, expected to be completed by 2025.
“I think there would be resistance in terms of using tolls on the A9,” he said. “I support the principle of free access to all of our roads.”
Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon said she agreed that introducing tolls would be unfair on motorists, but criticised SNP ministers for the speed at which the project was progressing.
“Given the other priorities across Scotland, I see nothing wrong in looking at different financial models – there is a place for the private sector in this development,” she added.
A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said it had no plans to introduce road-charging.
“We are doing everything possible to deliver improvements and bring forward work where we can with draft orders for the Kincraig to Dalraddy section already published in advance of work starting there in 2015-16,” she said.
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