Fergus Ewing was so angry about this his raised voice turned heads in the Garden Lobby at Holyrood during our interview.
This story is a heady mix of a powerful local issue, secret documents and an upcoming election battle.
Warning lights flash as we plough through this – there’s a lot of politics around.
Ewing was SNP royalty; a scion of the Ewing clan and a long-serving government minister.
He’s had a specular falling out with his party colleagues over oil and gas, gender and, notably, roads.
The now independent Inverness & Nairn MSP feels progress on the A96 (and A9) has been at a snail’s pace.
He’s gunning for the government and all this is grist to his mill as he seeks re-election in that constituency.
Ewing views this as promise after promise from ministers with the document suggesting they cynically sit there with an empty purse.
Transport Scotland tell us any claim that they’re not committed to the bypass is “simply, factually, wrong.”
The first minister echoes that commitment and has also sign-posted to the government’s budget on Tuesday which will give more details about the infrastructure investment pipeline.
In fairness, their hands are tied about what more they can say ahead of that – but the patient people of Nairn may want things to get moving.
Expensive promises do ultimately have to be delivered – if they don’t, there’s a political cost.