CIF calls for balance of East and West to be redressed

BIG-BUDGET projects have been focused on the East to the cost of the West, a construction lobby group warned yesterday.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) says the ‘western economic corridor’ must be developed to balance growth and development in and around Dublin and the eastern region.

The CIF says Galway, Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Sligo experienced considerable growth in the last ten years. However, in the same period, the eastern area outpaced all other regions.

The concentration of big-budget projects in the eastern region is a major contributory factor to regional imbalances.

Among the consequences of unbalanced regional development are congestion, pressure on public services in the greater Dublin area and the mushrooming of suburbs in Leinster towns, says the CIF.

Developing a western economic corridor demands and capital resources over a 20-25 year period. However, the time is right to designate Cork/Limerick/Galway as a western economic corridor, says Gerald Purcell, CIF president.

“Their combined populations and that of their satellite towns, their Universities and Institutes of Technology, their levels of industrial, technological and commercial development, have the capacity to be a serious counterweight to Dublin,” said Mr Purcell.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that almost 300 million annually will have to be raised through tolls to fund motorway construction. A document by the National Roads Authority and the National Development Finance Agency submitted to Government suggests tolling new as well as existing roads.

These include a second toll on the M50 in Dublin and one on the Jack Lynch Tunnel in Cork.