NEWPORT Council is in dispute with contractors over delays in delivering the Market Square bus station – which it says is overspent, a report reveals.

And the report hits out at contractors for what it calls the “unprofessional delivery of the project”.

The report, due to go before the audit committee on November 27, has been compiled following an investigation into the bus station project, which is anticipated to exceed cost in excess of 10 per cent.

The council has yet to estimate the exact level of the overspend for the bus station, but the original budget was £1.8 million.

A grant of £1.7 million for the project came from a South East Wales Transport Alliance. The report states that contractors Encon have been overpaid for the project.

Phil Matley, the Streetscene interim head of service who wrote the report, said the project overran from an early stage due to unforseen ground conditions, design issues and ‘significant problems with contractors’.

The council is currently in a contractual dispute with contractor Encon over the final account figures.

The report stated: “Under the contract the obligations placed upon the contractor are substantial and that it has been their failure from the outset to provide basic contractual documentation and evidence, together with their unprofessional delivery of the project.”

Phase one of the main construction was due to start on November 12, 2012. The report states that this delay and overspend in the later part of the works were due both to ‘unforeseen ground conditions’ across the site and to Arup, the designer of the terminus building, who failed to accommodate the presence of a water main, resulting in re-design of the foundations.

Phase two of the project, due to commence in July 2013, was delayed and there was an overspend. The report states this was partly due to Arup not providing necessary information to ‘facilitate the contractors to construct the building in an efficient manner’. But it also says that both Newport council and Encon failed to comply and issue the formal documentation required to fulfil the management of the contract, which led to delay and disruption by the principal contractor.

Cllr Ken Critchley, cabinet member for infrastructure, said: “Any overspend is to be investigated and it is hopeful that this project is being scrutinised as to how it happened. ”

The report states there are two options for funding the overspend – through increasing the capital sum for the bus station or reducing the Streetscene’s Medium Term Revenue Plan for this year and next, resulting in a reduction in the level of service.