Transport Minister Keith Brown has announced that another £70 million worth of sub-contracts are to be advertised from this week for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie to Tipperty project, part of a package totalling some £221m.

The sub-contracts, which are in addition to more than £121m of sub-contracts already advertised since August, include a wide range of business opportunities for SME’s like drainage works, plant and equipment hire, earthworks, steel reinforcement and rock crushing and screening.

Mr Brown said: “These significant sub-contract opportunities mark the final steps prior to the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie-Tipperty scheme. In the coming weeks, another £70m in sub-contracts will be advertised through Public Contracts Scotland, with a further £30m to be advertised in the coming months, bringing the total package to £221m.

“These will provide excellent opportunities to get involved in the largest project to be procured using the Scottish Government’s innovative Non-Profit Distributing funding model.

“Over the next three decades, our investment in the project is expected to bring in an additional £6 billion to the north-east economy. It will also create around 14,000 new jobs, with the intention to create more than 1,000 jobs for the construction phase, including on-the-job training for apprentices and local employment opportunities. A wide range of construction jobs will also be on offer in the coming months.

“Very few EU countries have a higher level of spending in their Small-Medium Enterprises sector than Scotland. Scottish SME’s successfully compete for public contracts, representing some 37 per cent of the economy, and getting a 46 per cent slice of the £10 billion public procurement spend every year.

“Preparatory work on Aberdeen bypass is nearing completion with full construction due to start shortly. Work on new road improvements at Inveramsay Bridge on the A96 is moving apace, and I will be visiting Aberdeen tomorrow to see for myself ground investigation work start on the notorious bottleneck at Haudagain roundabout. This vital preparation work is essential to ensure we are ready to start work when the Aberdeen bypass is finished, and forms an impressive package of transport infrastructure improvements we are delivering for the north east.”