WHITE-WATER OVER-RUN WAS ‘KNOWN IN MARCH’
Costs had already ballooned to €20-25m range for dock project
DUBLIN City Council officials knew last March that the cost of the controversial white-water rafting centre proposed for George’s Dock had ballooned to over €20million, newly released documents show.
Media reports circulating in August put the estimated cost of the project at €12million, but it was not until November that it was revealed the cost had increased by €10million.
The extra €10million was said to go towards a new city council Docklands Office and another building to service the white-water facility.
However, correspondence involving council officials, released through a freedom of information request, shows that in March total costs in the range of €20million to €25million were being mentioned for the project.
On March 4, administrative officer at Dublin Docklands Derek Kelly asked design firm Stantec to update the business model for the proposed facility.
‘Dublin City Council would like to have the business case model updated to take in overall updated costs of €20million and €25million for the construction of the proposed facility at George’s Dock,’ he wrote.
In another correspondence sent in April by the council’s Head of Finance, Kathy Quinn, to the Department of Sports, the €20million figure was given as the council attempted to secure grant funding. In the correspondence, she wrote: ‘The project cost is estimated at €20million. Dublin City Council commits to funding this project to a value of €13.4million over the project timeframe. This funding is ring-fenced for this purpose as part of Dublin City Council’s Capital Programme.
‘This funding confirmation supports Dublin City Council’s application for a LSSIF (Large Scale Sport Infrastructural Fund) grant of €6.6million.
‘This facility will be a key sporting
amenity and is envisaged to be highly used given its proximity to transport connections. The facility also brings key tourism benefits with associated employment,’ she added.
In November, it was revealed that the council would spend the extra €10million to demolish and rebuild buildings near the facility.
At the time, a council spokeswoman told the Irish Daily Mail that the initial €12million estimate did not include VAT, design team fees, or removal of the events platform at the dock. She added that the designers initially planned ‘a modest refurbishment of the former Dublin Docklands Development Authority offices’ but said the projects had become more extensive in the last ten months.
In addition, the correspondence also revealed that city council chief executive Owen Keegan rejected proposals for a cycle track to go along with the white water rafting facility, despite, the National Transport Authority offering to pay the costs.
The proposal was to include a section of cycle track in the proposal in order to make a continuous cycle track from the Samuel Beckett Bridge to the Matt Talbot Memorial Bridge.
According to the documents, the National Transport Authority offered to fund additional engineering design costs for the cycling element and agreed, in principle, to pay the construction costs subject to the council complying with its governance procedures.
However, Mr Keegan said that if the scope of the project is to be ‘extended to include the provision of cycle lanes and major junction remodelling works’ it will delay submissions related to the project.
‘I believe that the required cycle lane and junction remodelling works should be done as part of the proposed BusConnects works on the route,’ he said in an email.
Dublin City Council has not yet replied to a request for comment.
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