The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry is due to cost more than £13million - the same amount as the investigation into the Iraq war.
A detailed projection provided by Transport Scotland shows the project will have cost the public purse £13,100,812 by the end of this financial year. It is almost an identical sum to the Iraq Inquiry, which according to its own most recent estimate had cost £13,126,900 by the time it published its 12-volume report in 2016.
The inquiry into the Edinburgh tram project is examining why the venture finished five years late and cost £776 million, twice as much as initially planned. But more than eight years after the probe was ordered by the former first minister Alex Salmond, who wanted it to be 'swift and thorough', it has yet to produce its report.
