South Kerry Greenway expected to cost €22m

THE cost to compulsory purchase order (CPO) land for the South Kerry Greenway project will be more than €5.7m, according to a project appraisal of the tourism project.

The council’s acquisition of 48 hectares of land – in 222 separate landholdings, from 197 landowners – needed for the South Kerry Greenway project will be over €4m, with the remainder of the costs associated with professional fees, severance, residential impact and disturbance.

Farmers are to get an annual payment of €300, and €2 per metre of land acquired.

The South Kerry Greenway will cost in the region of €22m, it has emerged, and will cost €95,000 in maintenance and marketing costs annually.

The project appraisal presented at the oral hearing last week for the first time gave a detailed breakdown of what the project will cost.

This includes construction costs of almost €14m which are based on the costs of wages, materials, plant, and contractors and supplier costs, and is inclusive of VAT. The figure allows for a contingency of 10 per cent.

Design and planning costs, according to the breakdown, will be almost €1m. This includes the preparation of the CPO and the EIAR documents associated with the project.

Maintenance costs are estimated at €75,000 – €2,500 per km a year – and Kerry County Council will be responsible for maintaining the project. Branding for the project will cost €100,000 in the first year and €25,000 will be allocated for marketing from year two of the project.

According to Kerry County Council’s project appraisal, the project will break even at the worst-case scenario in year 14, and best-case scenario in year nine.

The potential returns for the project are based on a study of the Great Western Greenway in Mayo.

The most recent date from 2016 in Mayo shows visitor numbers of 259,670, and this is the expected number that will visit the South Kerry Greenway as well.

Analysis on visitor numbers from both international and national figures project almost €20m in direct expenditure to the local economy. More than €11m of this would be from visitors who would not have come to the area if the greenway did not exist.

According to Fáilte Ireland data applied to the South Kerry Greenway project, the additional spend from international visitors is €4.5m, which will directly support 130 jobs.

The South Kerry Greenway is seen by many as a key project to help the entire region regenerate and has been termed a project of national importance to bring employment and population increases to the area.