A public inquiry into the Edinburgh tram project has now taken six years and cost the taxpayer over £11 million pounds, the Scottish Government has revealed.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond appointed Lord Hardie to establish what went wrong with the infrastructure project in 2014, but more than six years later no date for the publication of report is in sight.
New figures released by the Scottish Government under Freedom of Information laws reveals the mounting cost of the inquiry to the public purse.
Responding to the information request, the Scottish Government said it had received no contact from the inquiry or Lord Hardie to indicate when a report could be expected almost two years since public evidence sessions concluded.
After he announced the inquiry in 2014, Salmond promised it would be "swift and thorough".
The project was hit with difficulties throughout and ran over budget by some £401 billion pounds.
With a promised completion date of 2009, the project was hit with delays before the first customers boarded in May 2014.
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Responding to an FOI question about the cost on the inquiry and an expected date for its report, the Scottish Government said there was no announcement imminent.
"The cost to date of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry has been £11.3 million. Lord Hardie has not yet announced a date when he intends to publish his report and there is no correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary that I am aware of about that.
"It has now been 28 months since the Inquiry concluded its evidence sessions. The Scottish Government will continue to consider carefully the need for and benefits of any future public inquiries and expects the written report by the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry to provide valuable lessons for any such future infrastructure projects in line with its terms of reference," the response read.
