Engineers seek more money for roads

THE €1.2 billion earmarked for investment in Irish roads is not enough, according to the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI).

IEI director general Paddy Purcell called on the government to use Wednesday’s budget to increase the level of spending on the national road network.

He said the failure to increase spending meant little progress had been made in addressing the country’s roads infrastructure deficit. Ireland’s competitiveness was being “seriously handicapped” as a result, Mr Purcell said.

The National Development Plan for the 2000-2006 period provided for motorways or high-quality dual carriageways linking Dublin with Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, as well as providing for an uninterrupted motorway as far as the border on the Dublin-Belfast route.

It is now generally accepted that this will not be achieved. Of the proposed inter-urban corridors, only the Dublin-Belfast project is near completion.

Even in this case, the motorway ends south of Dundalk as a result of disputes in relation to the proposed western bypass of the town.

Mr Purcell said the progress on building new roads was disappointing. He said the current process was too complex and expensive and legal and other regulatory costs deterred investors from getting involved in road projects.

The use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements needed to be more user-friendly, according to Mr Purcell.

PPP contracts were originally intended to deliver approximately 10 projects on key strategic routes, such as bypasses of Fermoy, Co Cork on the N8 between Dublin and Cork, and a new ring around Waterford city on the N25 between Cork and Rosslare.

Contracts have been signed for only one of these projects, the Kilcock-Kinnegad motorway on the Dublin-Galway route, so far.

The IEI said the government should be more innovative and practical in the use of PPPs and should consider raising extra money to finance the roads programme by increased borrowing and selective use of development levies.

“It would be a serious concern, and a missed opportunity, if the current favourable construction industry and interest rate conditions were not used to increase the speed at which the country’s acknowledged infrastructure deficit is tackled,” Mr Purcell said.