The completion of the bridge marks the culmination of the £117m Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project which also includes new roads and cycling routes.

The project received funding from both the Scottish and UK governments through the Glasgow Region City Deal.

A major benefit is improved access to the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District being developed next to Glasgow Airport.

Construction was carried out by civil engineers Graham, and the large bridge sections were manufactured in the Netherlands before being transported by barge.

Until now, the only way to cross the river at Renfrew was by using a small ferry that carries pedestrians and cyclists for a small fee.

The Renfrew ferry has been operating, previously with larger car carrying vessels, for a century and is located closer to the town centre.

The ferry will continue operating although the impact of the new bridge on its usage and future has yet to be established.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said she had communicated her "disappointment and frustration" at the announcement to the Ferguson board.

"It is imperative that that there is no further delay or additional cost to deliver the vessel beyond this point," she said.

"Ferguson Marine's leadership must take immediate and sustained action to restore trust, enforce delivery discipline, and bring this project under control."

Scottish Conservative transport spokeswoman Sue Webber said the government should take responsibility, and that islanders had been "betrayed at every turn by the SNP's incompetence".

She said: "The enormous increase in both the delay and the cost of delivering the Glen Rosa beggars belief – and yet it is totally in keeping with the nationalists' scandalous mismanagement of our ferry network."

Scottish Labour's transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said the SNP had "failed islanders, taxpayers and shipyard workers".

"Scotland's iconic shipbuilding industry is losing out on work because of SNP chaos and the skilled workers at Ferguson's yard are being forced to clean up a mess they did not create," she said.

For the Scottish Liberal Democrats, West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene demanded an urgent statement to parliament.

"The hard-working staff at Ferguson Marine have been let down by bosses, all paid huge sums of public cash, yet islanders are still waiting on their ferries," he said. "Not a single SNP minister has lost their job over this fiasco."

The £97m contract for Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, the first LNG-powered ferries ever built by a UK shipyard, was awarded to Ferguson Marine in 2015, and both ships originally were due for delivery in 2018.

But design challenges and disputes between the shipyard's former owners and government-owned ferries body CMAL led to a stand-off over claims for extra costs.

The shipyard's management maintained that a poorly-developed specification, repeated interference and change requests by CMAL had led to unforeseen complications.

CMAL denied this and claimed the yard's new owners had underestimated the complexity of the project.

The stalemate eventually resulted in Ferguson's going into administration and being taken into state ownership in 2019 with the project already about £100m overbudget.

Problems continued after nationalisation with further delays and costs spiralling upwards.

MV Glen Sannox is now in service on CalMac's Arran route, but the state-owned ferry operator remains under pressure as it awaits the arrival of new replacement vessels for its ageing fleet.

Four other large ferries under construction in Turkey are also delayed with the first of them, MV Isle of Islay, due for delivery later this summer.

Ferguson's is the last surviving commercial shipyard on the River Clyde, and has previously built six out of the 10 largest ships in CalMac's fleet, many of which are now operating well beyond their expected service life.

A search is being carried out off the Solway Coast for a 72-year-old man who has gone missing while sailing in the area.

HM Coastguard was called out to reports of a missing dinghy off Wigtown Bay on Tuesday at about 19:00.

Rescue teams from Ballantrae, Isle of Whithorn, Kirkcudbright, Portling, Stranraer and Portpatrick were sent alongside a search and rescue helicopter from Prestwick and Kirkcudbright RNLI lifeboat.

Police were also called out to the incident. The coastguard said the search was suspended at about 01:00 on Wednesday but it has since resumed.

Police Scotland said officers were called out at about 20:05 on Tuesday to help the search for the man who had been sailing in the Fleet Bay area earlier in the afternoon.

A spokesperson said: "Officers are working with partner agencies including coastguard and ongoing searches are being carried out."