Infrastructure projects worth almost £6 billion will be under construction throughout Scotland during 2016, and more Scottish employers than before are winning public contracts, the Scottish Government said.

Holyrood is working with the UK and Welsh governments to set up events where businesses can learn about opportunities available from public infrastructure projects.

Recent independent research found that Scotland is spending more per head on improving infrastructure than the rest of the UK.

Major schemes including the first phase of the A9 Dualling Programme, the new Acute District General Hospital in Dumfries and Galloway and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh all started construction last year, with others set to begin later in 2016.

The Forth Replacement Crossing, the electrification of the Edinburgh-Glasgow rail route and two new college campuses — the City of Glasgow College City Campus and the Ayrshire College, Kilmarnock Campus — are all set to become operational this year.

The Scottish Government’s bi-annual Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) project pipeline, published Tuesday, provides an update on the progress of major projects.

The Scottish Government has also renewed the contract to run the Public Contracts Scotland web portal to connect Scottish businesses with work opportunities.

“This is an extremely exciting time for infrastructure development in Scotland, which means good news for the businesses who can bid to deliver these projects,” said Infrastructure Secretary Keith Brown.

“Contracts mean jobs, and we’re doing all we legally can to help Scottish businesses access those contracts.

“Our Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) web portal will continue to be run by previous operator, Aberdeen-based Millstream, for the next five years, meaning that SMEs throughout Scotland have a one-stop-shop for finding all of this potential business.

“And, following on from the work of the Steel Task Force to support the steel industry, we are also publishing the potential steel requirements from our projects.

“I look forward to seeing these projects come to completion, but also to seeing many more Scottish companies benefit from the Scottish Government’s record levels of infrastructure investment, as well as continuing to access contracts elsewhere.”

Millstream managing director Tim Williams said: “Millstream is leading and revolutionising the public procurement industry and we have introduced new features to PCS which will save public sector organisations time and money and also provide an important resource for suppliers interested in finding new opportunities.”