THE Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, Keith Brown, will give an update on the new Forth Crossing tomorrow (Wednesday) amid speculation that its opening is to be delayed.

Mr Brown will update members of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee from 9.30am tomorrow.

The committee will also hear from David Climie, project director, Forth Replacement Crossing Team; Transport Scotland; and Sally Cox, chair, and Michael Martin, project director, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors.

On March 9, the Press revealed exclusively a bridge worker's claim that the structure wouldn't be ready by May as had been stated by the government.

The worker claimed a meeting had taken place asking for an extension for the project to September and told the Press: "The problem is with the actual bridge. The southern approach road is pretty much complete and you can see from this side that there's still a bit of work to do on the northern approach but they've still not pulled all the cables, there's some damage to some of the cables and the cable boxes on the road deck are misaligned - they don't actually fit."

An announcement on the bridge opening date was expected before the end of March and, within the last few minutes, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser said Mr Brown had confirmed that the new bridge would not open in May following a question asked by him at Holyrood.

Mr Fraser said: “Travellers expecting the bridge to open in May will be sorely disappointed by today’s announcement.

“When the December opening date was put back to May, inclement weather was blamed, now we have the same excuse being rolled out for a second time.

“This latest delay surely calls into question the Government’s handling of the project and why the public weren’t told sooner considering speculation over a delayed opening has been rife for weeks.

“With reports suggesting it could be September before the bridge opens the Scottish Government must come clean and let the public now when it realistically predicts the bridge will open.”

When the Press contacted Transport Scotland last week about the bridge opening announcement, a spokesman said: “FCBC, the contractor, is making every effort to open this iconic structure at the earliest opportunity. Extra resources have been brought in and an additional 200 people have been working on site since the turn of the year.

"Wind conditions over the past few weeks have been challenging for the contractor. During spells of difficult weather our contractor continues to focus on the areas of the project less affected by these conditions. We also understand that‎ the forecast looks set to improve towards the end of this week.

“The latest situation was set out in great detail by the project director during his appearance at the Parliament’s REC Committee earlier this month. As things stand, the target date for opening to traffic remains the end of May, however, as has been said on many occasions, severe weather will always be a factor, and continues to have an impact on construction.

“Health and safety is the number one priority on the job and we remain fully focused on completing the work safely. Our contractor is currently analysing its programme and we expect to be able to announce the date for opening to traffic soon.”