Letters / Will tunnels ever be built?
It is unfortunately extremely unlikely that any tunnel will be built in Shetland while some people in senior positions in the SIC who were instrumental in the dismissal of previous transport link proposals are still in positions where they can influence the result of this latest consultation.
During the last 15 years, three separate proposals for the construction of a tunnel to Whalsay have been presented to both the Scottish Government and the SIC; all of which have been dismissed.
The most recent refusal regarding the construction of a Whalsay tunnel was for a cost of £76 million in 2016/17, the dismissal included the following statement copied from the most recent transport consultation report; the Shetland Inter Islands Transport Study (SIITS).
“The cost of a fixed link to Whalsay significantly exceeds the costs associated with ongoing ferry services, even when considered over two ferry replacement cycles.”
The oldest SIC ferry presently in service is named the Hendra and runs on the two Whalsay routes. It is now over 12 years beyond its replacement age of 30 years; the three ferry terminals required for the Whalsay open seas transport link are also many years beyond their 40 year replacement age. The second Whalsay ferry Linga is only seven years away from its 30 year age for replacement.
Two ferry transport link replacement cycles for the Whalsay service, would require four new ferries and another at year 60 and six replacement ferry terminals during the 60 years; this cost is not known.
We are however aware of the 2002 to 2006 costs for the construction of the ferry service in Yell Sound; which we can compare to the 2002 proposed tunnel cost of £26.9 million to a worst case cost of £32.5 million.
That Yell Sound tunnel proposal was dismissed after SIC officials informed councillors that two new ferries and terminals could be built for around £19.4 million; those two new ferries and two new terminals eventually cost £37.1 million.
Doubling those Yell Sound transport link construction costs would come to £74.2 million, to compare to the Yell Sound tunnel offer at that time of £26.9 to a worst case cost of £32.5 million.
This obviously proves how ridiculous and misleading the statement included in the SIITS report was.
That flawed statement from the SIITS report was also included in a reply from a Scottish minister of transport in 2017, regarding his dismissal of a proposal for the construction of a Whalsay tunnel.
William Polson
Whalsay
