SSE have admitted that months of major Dundee roadworks will be abandoned and started from scratch in the New Year.
West End residents and businesses have faced two months of disruption as roads throughout the community have been dug up and closed since April.
The Courier can reveal that the project has now been cancelled and the excavations will be filled in without any substantive work being undertaken.
Scottish and Southern Energy will have to revisit the works in January, with bosses blaming a manufacturing fault in the cable they planned to use.
The result is that the community can expect to face many more months of disruption in the New Year as preparatory works begin again.
The debacle is also likely to cost SSE tens of thousands of pounds.
West End councillor Richard McCready said he was “disappointed” that SSE had been forced to cancel the works.
Effectively this has been two months of disruption for nothing and people in the West End will have to go through it all again.
He said the next stage needed to be “better organised” to minimise disruption and said he would be speaking to both SSE and council officers to ensure that happens.
Mr McCready said: “I am disappointed that constituents have had to put up with the disruption in places like Lochee Road, Scott Street and Fleuchar Street but have not had the benefit of the works actually taking place.
“Effectively this has been two months of disruption for nothing and people in the West End will have to go through it all again.
“I will be speaking to both SSE and the city council to make sure that next year’s works come with as little disruption as possible.”
The councillor said he would also be speaking to business owners in the West End to ensure that no-one has been adversely affected.
SSE said: “Engineering works to replace a high voltage underground cable in Dundee require to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances beyond SHE Transmission’s control.
“The replacement 132kV underground cable produced by a leading manufacturer failed a final quality test.
“As such, it cannot be accepted by SHE due to safety concerns.”
Despite his concerns about the cancellation, Mr McCready said it was “welcome” the firm was prioritising safety.
The project first got under way on April 4 this year and involved the excavation of roads and implementation of traffic management systems in preparation for installation of the cable.
All excavations will now be reinstated, traffic management systems removed and full road access returned by June 3.
Works are then likely to restart in early 2017.
