£20m boost for Forth crossing firms - graduate jobs

Various graduate civil engineering jobs could be created after £20 million of sub-contracts were awarded to 118 firms as part of work to build the new Forth crossing in Scotland.

The funding was revealed by Scottish Government minister Alex Neil, who said that an additional 134 sub-contracts are being advertised, providing further benefits to the sector as a result of the bridge's five-year construction.

He said that the deals would boost the Scottish economy by safeguarding current jobs and creating some new ones.

"I am delighted to see that local Scottish firms have already benefited to the tune of £20 million from opportunities created by the Forth replacement crossing project," he said.

"The project is expected to support over 1,200 new jobs during its construction and protect up to 3,000 Scottish jobs that would otherwise be at risk if the current Forth road bridge had to close without a replacement crossing in place."

Copyright Press Association 2011