Overspending project leaders should be sacked, says planning expert

A PROJECT planning expert who helped execute Ireland’s successful hosting of the World Special Olympics has hit out at overspending on big state ventures following a critical report on the cost of regenerating Ballymun.

Project leaders should be sacked as an example when ventures go over budget or run late, contended Fergus O’Connell, a leading author and expert on steering projects.

Mr O’Connell, who formerly advised organisers of the Special Olympics in 2003 about efficiency, queried why multimillion-euro state contracts were running years late.

“It seems to me that they overrun for very simple reasons,” he said.

A report by the State’s spending watchdog on the regeneration of Ballymun this week found it was expected to cost nearly double its original budget at €950 million. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) noted the Dublin redevelopment was six years behind.

“It’s ridiculous that this will run six years late, that’s outrageous. World War II was won in six years,” said Mr O’Connell. He said excuses for Ballymun’s excessive cost should have been provided for initially.

“They’re not trying to put a man on the moon, they’re just trying to build some buildings.”

Better estimates, risk analysis and budget testing could have prevented the excessive cost, said Mr O’Connell. He criticised Dublin’s Port Tunnel, which overran by nearly €200m and whose control looks set to end up in court. “There was disagreement over its height for two years. You’d think doing a project that big you’d need to know how high it would be.”

Mr O’Connell’s comments come after a separate C&AG report recently found a €9m Limerick sewage project ended up costing €83m after a company was wrongfully dismissed from a contract.

Engineers Ireland will host a seminar tomorrow at which Mr O’Connell will outline techniques for getting projects done as quickly as possible.

Speaking ahead of the seminar, Engineers Ireland’s director general John Power said: “Ireland Inc could learn a lot when it comes to getting infrastructure projects in on-time and on-budget, though it is improving as we have seen with some of the road building. The demands of shareholders, taxpayers and government is that the public and private sectors must deliver on time and give value for money.”