MORE than 30 major infrastructure projects across Scotland have faced delays or ballooning budgets in the last few years, new analysis shows.

Dozens of schools, hospitals, rail upgrades and roads have been subject to spiralling costs and overruns, sometimes racking up millions of pounds more than initially anticipated.

High-profile schemes to suffer setbacks include the £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing, the new Aberdeen bypass and Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Meanwhile, the cost of the ongoing Edinburgh to Glasgow rail upgrade has soared by more than £100m, the latest estimates show.

Impartial Holyrood researchers found 15 projects went over budget between November 2016 and March this year, while 29 had their estimated completion date pushed back.

Scottish Labour’s economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the scale of the figures “seriously calls into question the SNP’s handling of major infrastructure projects”.

She said: “We already know the SNP government is putting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money for public projects in the hands of private companies – and these figures show that people in Scotland are not getting value for money.

“There needs to be a wholescale review of public procurement in Scotland, including spending on major infrastructure projects.

“People in Scotland deserve better than a policy that lines the pockets of shareholders only to leave important works delayed and over budget.”

Research carried out by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), and commissioned by Labour, compared details for 48 major projects between 2016 and this year.

It found 33 of them saw their estimated budgets rise in that time or had their completion dates pushed back, or both – including 12 schools.

But the real figure may be even higher, as there are more than 80 schemes currently being advanced in which the Scottish Government is involved.

St Joseph's College in Dumfries cost £10m more than expected in 2016, while Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh had its opening delayed multiple times and now needs a new extension because it can’t cope with booming school rolls.

Motorway improvement works on the M8, M73 and M74 cost £13 million more, while a new hospital and healthcare facility on Orkney is currently £10m over budget and delayed by five months.

Last year, NHS Lothian confirmed there would be further delays in the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

Of the projects examined by SPICe, only one – the A737 Dalry Bypass – saw its estimated cost drop between November 2016 and March this year. Two schools, Kelso High and Dunoon Primary, were completed earlier than expected.

Researchers said some cost increases could be due to a change in the scope of a project.

But Ms Baillie said the fact that financial and timescale details are only available for a limited number of schemes meant the figures "could just be the tip of the iceberg".

Ronnie Hunter, the former chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Scotland, said there were a variety of reasons why projects might stumble into difficulties.

This could include bad weather, problems with ground conditions and late variations to a contract. Archaeological finds are also increasingly holding up work.

But Mr Hunter said in most modern contracts, the risk is increasingly borne by the contractor – meaning the public don’t shoulder the cost when things go wrong.

He said contractors are forced to pay "liquidated damages" if they run over agreed time frames.

He added: “There’s no benefit to them of running over. There’s always a cost. It’s not in the contractor’s interests to be late.

"The public are not paying for it – the public don't get use of the asset, but they don't pay for the cost of the overrun or the damages.

“For all these contracts that we have got, it’s not straightforward to say it’s a Scottish Government problem. It might be a contractor problem.”

But he added: “It does seem quite a big number that do run over. That does seem odd."

He referenced the Queensferry Crossing, where delays incurred no cost to the public purse.

A Scottish Government spokesman said a number of "significant projects" were on course to be delivered this year.

He added: “We are committed to delivering critical infrastructure projects and have a strong record in this field, including major road improvements to the M8, M73 and M74, the Queensferry Crossing, which came in £245m under budget and the new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.

“While it’s not uncommon to encounter challenges when delivering such a large number of ambitious projects of this size, scale and complexity, we have made excellent progress on our infrastructure plan, with further significant projects set to be completed this year. All of which is good for jobs, our economy and Scotland overall.”

It comes amid widespread fears over the quality of construction work being carried out in Scotland.

A panel of experts recently found developers and contractors cannot be fully relied on to assess whether their buildings have been built to a high enough standard.