Eight of 10 Cork City Council road projects cost total of €3m over budget

The exceptions were Innishmore active travel scheme in Ballincollig, which came in about €4,400 under budget, and the Parnell Bridge works which was exactly on budget

The Parnell Bridge works finished exactly on budget. File picture: Larry Cummins

Cork City Council completed 10 major road projects in the past 18 months that came in at almost €3m over their original tender sums, figures released to councillors show.

The final accounts for the 10 capital projects total just over €30.3m, compared with the €27.4m initially planned, an overrun of almost 11%.

The Mahon Active Travel and Public Realm scheme had the largest overrun, costing €1.2m more than the €11.8m for which it was tendered.

Glanmire to City Phase 1 was €790,000 over, while the Donnybrook Hill Pedestrian Improvement Scheme exceeded its tender by €350,000.

In total, eight of the 10 projects cost more than for which they were tendered, with the only two exceptions being the Innishmore active travel scheme in Ballincollig, which came in about €4,400 under, and the Parnell Bridge works, which finished exactly on budget.

There was a further overspend of: 

• €292,000 on Glanmire Pedestrian Improvements;
• €160,000 on Marina Promenade;
• €41,000 on Ballincrussig Bridge and Two-Pot Bridge, and 
• €33,000 on Blarney Business Park linkage.

Most of the extra cost fell on the National Transport Authority (NTA), which funded all but three of the projects.

Works on Parliament Bridge, which ran €75,000 over, were funded by the Department of Transport as well as Allianz Insurance, given the works were necessitated by the crash of a vehicle into the historic bridge.

The figures were provided to Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins at Monday’s council meeting by director of infrastructure development, Gerry O’Beirne, director of local area development and operations John Stapleton, and director of housing Martina Broderick.

Mr Collins had also sought details on housing projects, and was told that 12 housing projects comprising both new housing developments and energy efficiency retrofit programmes have been delivered within the last 18 months.

However, the directors said that figures were not available as the final accounts for some of the new housing developments have not yet been finalised with the Department of Housing.

They added that, in general, any overruns on housing projects are funded by the department and not Cork City Council.