Christopher Pyne has dismissed reports that the $50bn contract to build Australia’s new fleet of submarines is in trouble, claiming the project remains on budget and on schedule.

The defence minister has also rejected claims that he refused to meet with the French armed forces minister, Florence Parly, or executives from Naval Group, the state-owned French company contracted to build Australia’s submarines, when they were in Adelaide last week, out of frustration that negotiations over the strategic partnering agreement had stalled.

According to a report by the ABC, defence and industry figures believe France and Australia will not be ready to sign the SPA document before the end of the year, which must be signed before submarine construction begins, feeding concerns that the document may not be signed before next year’s federal election.

If it is not signed before the federal election, the project’s future may be uncertain.

The Australian Strategic Policy ­Institute senior analyst Marcus Hellyer told the Australian last month if the project were delayed for too long, Australia may be forced to keep using its ageing Collins-class submarines for a further 30 years, which could erode the nation’s strategic military edge in the region.

In 2016 the Turnbull government agreed to purchase a dozen Shortfin Barracuda-class submarines to replace Australia’s six ageing Collins subs, which were launched in 1998. The $50bn contract was awarded to French shipbuilder Naval Group (formerly DCNS), which agreed to build the subs in Adelaide, starting in 2022.

The first of the new subs is supposed to be delivered in the early 2030s, with the final sub delivered in the 2050s.

Pyne was asked on Tuesday if the $50bn contract to build the new fleet of submarines was in trouble, and he said it wasn’t. “There is no delay to the program, or the schedule or the budget,” he told ABC Radio.

“The strategic partnering agreement is the second agreement that lasts for many decades into the future … it’s very important it be got right because it’s the long-term contract and therefore we are not rushing into signing it, but nor is it delayed.

“Negotiations by their very nature take time, and I’m very comfortable with the position we are in with the submarine contract. There’s a lot of very overheated conversation about the contract [but] I can tell you, it is going very well.”

Pyne also laughed at suggestions that he had refused to meet with Florence Parly when she was in Adelaide last week.

“I spent Sunday night and all Monday with Florence Parly in Adelaide, so that story that I’ve refused to meet the French is completely false,” he said.

He said the report that he had refused to meet with top executives from Naval Group was also wrong, because he had met them last week during the inaugural Australia–France Defence Industry Symposium.

He did not say if any scheduled meeting had been cancelled.

“I saw them as well, when they were in Adelaide last Sunday and Monday, and spent much time talking with both of them,” he said. “But I’m not the chief negotiator.

“We have a negotiating team in the Department of Defence and commercial support for that negotiating team. They are the spear tip of the negotiation, but of course I am meeting with everyone who needs to be talked to about these matters because that’s part of my job.”

He said the $50bn project had not blown out. “It’s always been a $50bn investment and it remains at $50bn investment,” he said. “It is on schedule and it is on budget and there’s been no change to the $50bn envelope.

“Sustainment and maintenance of course is in addition to that, and always was in addition to that, and has never been included in the $50bn price tag.”