Scotland's Finance Secretary, John Swinney, told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme his approach was the responsible way to guarantee construction of the new crossing.
Mr Swinney said: "We have the money to pay for this crossing through our traditional capital budgets. We have £3.5bn of a capital expenditure programme every year and the Forth replacement crossing will cost us about £1.7bn over a five to six-year period."
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However he said: "The cost of doing that is that there would be, unfortunately, delays to other projects."
Mr Swinney said: "We're trying to get the Treasury to give them the type of flexibility that any other normal administration would have by being able to borrow to pay for a once-in-a-generation project like the Forth replacement crossing and spread those payments over a period of years."
Yvette Cooper, the chief secretary to the treasury, said the Scottish Government's request was not credible and alternatives including building up a big under spend or using a PPP tie-up with the private sector were suggested.
Minister Swinney said the Scottish Futures Trust is there to essentially bring about collaboration between different projects of a smaller scale to deliver value for money such as healthcare developments and school buildings rather than a single, generational build.
(GK/KMcA)
