Ballooning costs linked to bribery, corruption, fraud and price fixing
National Highways has written to construction companies asking them to outline the anti-fraud practices they have in place after it found £320,000 worth of central barrier metal, used during the construction of a smart motorway, went missing.
The letter mentioned “an increase in the number of allegations of potential fraud or impropriety raised with us,” with fears that central barriers have been sold as scrap metal being just one of the potential issues.
It comes on the back of the conclusion of an investigation into the activities of a joint venture between the companies Costain and Galliford Try, both of which are working on the construction of the M1 smart motorway scheme between Junctions 13 and 16, a project that is due to finish next year.
The scheme for the construction of the stretch of smart motorway between Milton Keynes and Northampton was awarded to the joint venture with an agreed budget of £297m; this has since ballooned to £453m.
read full article here