SCOTLAND’S foremost entrepreneurs, Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey, have welcomed Scotland’s National Investment Bank input of around £30 million into the expansion of Aberdeen harbour to support the growth of offshore wind projects .
Sir Tom said: “First, I would like to welcome the fact we now have a Scottish National Investment Bank. And I think they have chosen a good chairman in Willie Watt. He comes from the real world and he has a good track record.
“I think the bank is constrained because it’s been designed by politicians with not a lot of input from the private sector.
“However I do welcome what’s happened in Aberdeen because we need to transition from traditional oil and gas. Let’s not close it down tomorrow though.
“Let’s have an intelligent transition to green and Aberdeen harbour will play a vital role once again in that transition. So, yes, I say good on them!”
Lord Willie agreed Mr Watt has been a great appointment, adding: “The only thing I would say is that green has been at the heart of every investment.
“I don’t think we were told that when SNIB was put together it was going to be the ‘green investment bank’. I’d like to see them looking at a few more risky, investments, more entrepreneurial.
“People now know very quickly that, if you’re going to the bank, you have to have green at the heart of what you’re talking about.
“So with regard to the sum of £200m per year they’re going to spend over the next 10 years, I think they may struggle to find projects that have the whole green agenda at the heart of what they are doing. They might struggle to spend that £200m every year.”
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