Alex Salmond will return to Holyrood next week to be quizzed on why the Scottish Government’s long-held plans to dual the A9 have not come to fruition.

It will be the first time the former SNP leader, who now leads the Alba Party, has been questioned by MSPs since he gave evidence to an inquiry in February 2021 set up to examine how the government led by his successor Nicola Sturgeon's mishandled complaints of sexual harassment against him.

The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee last year began considering a petition lodged by road safety campaigner Laura Hansler that called on ministers to fulfil their 2011 promise to fully dual the road between Perth and Inverness by 2025.

Just 11 miles of the roadway have been upgraded over the past decade, with around 80 miles still to go. The Scottish Government last year conceded that the original timetable could not be met, with the work now not expected to complete under 2035.

READ MORE: Dualling of A9 to be completed by 2035

The petition also asked the government to consider creating a national memorial to those who have lost their lives on the road, which switches from dual to single carriageway a number of times and is known as an accident blackspot. More than 300 people have died on the road since 1979.

As part of its evidence-gathering sessions, the public petitions committee will hear from Mr Salmond next Wednesday and from his successor Nicola Sturgeon on 29 May. 

Mr Salmond was head of the Scottish Government at the time the dualling commitment was made, while the latter was First Minister between 2014 and last year.

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Committee convener Jackson Carlaw said the evidence sessions would focus on getting to the bottom of “fundamental unanswered questions” about why the dualling project was allowed to fall so far behind schedule.

“During the course of our A9 Dualling Inquiry, there has been a number of further serious injuries and fatalities on the road, every one of which is an unmitigated tragedy,” he said in March.

“When we launched our call for views at the start of this inquiry, it was clear that the top priorities for those who use and rely on the road are completing the promised dualling and improving road safety in the meantime.

“Having taken evidence from a wide range of stakeholders and previous transport ministers, there are still fundamental unanswered questions around why the A9 dualling project was allowed to fall so far behind the originally promised completion date and where responsibility for that failure lies.

“As former first ministers, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon can hopefully shed some light on the governance and decision-making processes at the very top of government during their time in office and help the committee to understand what needs to change to ensure there will be no backsliding on the new 2035 anticipated completion date.”

Ahead of Mr Salmond's appearance at the committee, an Alba spokesperson said: "Mr Salmond’s government had a track record of delivery. 

"Whether the Queensferry Crossing, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral route, completing the M74 or the Borders railway. His government was trusted to deliver so he is looking forward to his appearance to assist the committee in its work to establish why the A9 dualling project has been so badly delayed since he left office.”

In December 2011 the Scottish Government committed to dualling the road between Perth and Inverness by 2025 but in December 2023 it admitted it would be 2035 before the work could be completed.

The then transport secretary Mairi McAllan, who now has oversight of the economy brief, said she accepted that “people have been waiting too long”.

She said the government was “working hard to give the confidence to the Highlands” that half of the work will be completed by 2030, 85% will be finished by 2033 and the final phase expected to open by 2035.

“This programme has faced challenges and I acknowledge that it has not progressed at the pace we would have liked,” she said.

“However, the A9 is the backbone of Scotland. It must be safe, reliable and as resilient as possible and that's what the Scottish Government will deliver.”

The SNP’s government previous partners the Scottish Greens had spoken out against the need to dual trunk roads, claiming it would increase traffic and so the potential for accidents.

However, last year co-leader Lorna Slater, the former minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity in the government, said that work on the A9 needed to proceed “in order to make that road safe”.

Mr Salmond's last appearance before MSPs was when he gave evidence to the Committee on the Scottish Government's Handling of Harassment Complaints in February 2021.

That inquiry was set up after the Scottish Government admitted in court during a Judicial Review, that it had not followed the correct procedures after two complaints were made against Mr Salmond. Mr Salmond denied the allegations.

Judge Lord Pentland said that the government’s internal probe had been “unlawful in respect that they were procedurally unfair” and had been “tainted with apparent bias”. The Scottish Government had to pay Salmond £512,250 in legal costs.