Completing A9 dualling 'matter of honour' - Salmond

Alex Salmond said the completing the project was challenging but affordable

Former first minister Alex Salmond says it is a matter of "integrity and honour" for the Scottish government to complete the £3bn project to dual the A9 road.

Mr Salmond told a Holyrood inquiry the SNP cabinet he led in 2011 believed upgrading the road between Inverness and Perth could be finished by 2025.

But in December, the Scottish government said it would not be done until 2035 after being hit by delays.

Mr Salmond, now leader of the Alba Party, told the inquiry he felt "very strongly" the original commitment was not being kept.

Holyrood's citizen participation and petitions committee is gathering evidence on delays to the project.

Mr Salmond, who was SNP leader and first minister until 2014, said a commitment was first made in 2007 but no timescale was set.

He told the inquiry that further commitments were made in 2008 and again in 2011, when the 2025 date was set.

About 77 miles of the A9 has still to be dualled

Mr Salmond said his cabinet regarded it as "challenging but achievable" - and affordable within the government's capital budget.

He told MSPs: "The A9 is a hugely important project to connect the Highlands to central Scotland."

He said he hoped that new first minister John Swinney would be "anxious to redeem" the commitment made in 2011.

Mr Salmond added: "It is a matter of principle, a matter of integrity and a matter of honour."

Two sections of single carriageway totalling 11 miles (18km) of road have been upgraded over the past decade - but 77 miles of the route has still to be dualled.

The Scottish government said in February last year that finishing by 2025 was "unachievable".

In December, Transport Secretary Mairi McAllan announced a new rolling programme of improvements and said there would be "no let up" in the work.