Willie O’Rourke, a Glasgow councillor and chair of Glasgow Clyde Regeneration Ltd, told a meeting scrutinising the stuttering progress of Fastlink that “personal assurances” had been provided by First Minister Alex Salmond that the scheme would receive the required financial support.
The Herald understands Mr Salmond has in recent weeks told senior figures involved in the organisation of the Commonwealth Games that Fastlink will ferry spectators between major 2014 venues.
Other ministers are also understood to have been recently briefing public figures and officials in the Glasgow area on the prospects of the project coming to fruition in the near future.
Councillor O’Rourke said the project will cost around £40 million adding: “I believe we will receive good news from the Government and in this financial year will be given the
go-ahead for the project. No less a person than the First Minister has promised that by 2014 Fastlink will be servicing the Commonwealth Games.”
He added that Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson had said the initial phase of the project would see it running from Dalmarnock, in the east end of Glasgow and the epicentre of the Games, to the SECC.
This would be extended later to the Southern General Hospital, with Councillor O’Rourke claiming Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had recently been very much supporting the project.
Finance Secretary John Swinney has publicly committed to contributing to Fastlink after cancelling the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Garl).
Political sources have said that funding Fastlink would also be seen as the final nail in the coffin for Garl and draw a line in the sand in the row between the Government and Glasgow City Council.
The local authority and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport are now putting the final details to the business case which will be presented to the Government in the coming weeks.
At a fraction of the cost of the delayed Edinburgh tram scheme, the expectation is that it can be delivered without the controversy presently engulfing work in the capital.
Last night a council source said: “A commitment to fund Fastlink would transform the relationship between the council and the Scottish Government.”
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Government will contribute funding for Fastlink, a key Glasgow transport project linking the city centre, the SECC and the new Southern General Hospital, ensuring better links within the city in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“Ministers await sight of the final business case for Fastlink, and -- once this has been provided by the city council and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport -- will be in a position to discuss detailed funding issues.”
