Bandon flood relief work to restart in 2013

The Department of the Environment has given assurances that money is in place to complete a major sewerage scheme in a Co Cork town, but work will not restart until next summer at the earliest.

On Oct 22, Cork County Council and the project’s contractors SIAC Construction issued a joint statement saying work on the €3.5m main drainage scheme at Bandon “had been suspended due to events beyond the control of either party”.

SIAC started work on the scheme in Jul 2011 and it was due to be completed next summer.

Sources close to the project said that work had been extremely slow and only 10% had been completed by the time SIAC withdrew from the contract.

No explanation was given by the company — which is also working on flyovers on Cork City’s South Ring Road — as to why it was withdrawing.

County engineer Noel O’Keeffe said the local authority would re-tender the Bandon project early next year and hopes to have a contractor on site by next summer.

“The Department of the Environment has confirmed that funding remains in place for completion of these works,” he said.

Bandon-based county councillor Veronica Neville said it was necessary to retender the project because the original contract had been altered as SIAC had done some of the work.

“As the Department of the Environment has agreed to cover all the costs associated with the project, there will be no cost to the county council and therefore no negative impact on the ratepayers of the county,” said Ms Neville.

She said everybody in the town was anxious to see the works get underway again as quickly as possible.

Works are currently being completed in the town to make safe the project areas on which SIAC had been working until a new contractor is appointed.

Ms Neville said it was important that the sewerage scheme was completed in tandem with the town’s flood relief works.