CONTRACT SIGNED FOR MOTORWAY TO BY-PASS TOWN
€100M CONTRACT AWARDED TO INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM AND WILL BE FUNDED BY TOLLS FEBRUARY 2004
THE official signing of a contract for Dundalk’s €100m western by-pass takes place. The contract is awarded to a consortium, Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk) Ltd.
It consists of a major Spanish firm, Dragados Concesiones de Infraestructuras and UK-based Edmund Nutall Ltd. in partnership with two Irish firms, HBG Ascot Ltd and NTR plc.
Construction of the 11km route, which will see the motorway veer about a mile from Dundalk, is set to begin in March with completion estimated for late 2005.
Minister Dermot Ahern says that toll revenue collected on the M1 will fund the new road.
He points out major sections of the M1 northern motorway are completed and the journey time between Dublin and Dundalk/Belfast is reduced by up to 30 minutes.
He adds the government has allocated €10m for the final stretch to be built to the border.
The terms of the western by-pass contract provide that the consortium will design, construct, finance, operate and maintain, during a concession period of 30 years, the 11km section of motorway from Ballymascanlon to Heynestown.
It also includes approximately 7km of new link roads, 12 over/underbridges and a major railway overbridge.
In addition, the consortium will take over the operation and maintenance of 43km of existing motorway from Heynestown to Gormanston for a thirty-year period.
‘I am delighted that we are proceeding expeditiously with the Dundalk western by-pass, another part of the Dublin-Belfast jigsaw,’ Minister Ahern continues.
‘ This new road is great for our town which has been dissected over the years.’
The Inner Relief Road effectively dissects Dundalk, he adds.
At the time it was being built many believed it to be a by-pass of the town when it was simply a route to relieve traffic within the town.
‘ The way in which the deal for the western by-pass is struck is very significant, and the design of the deal is of benefit to both the state and the consortium.
‘For the people of Dundalk, it has the attraction of removing thousands of cars from the existing by-pass, making the lives of everyone in the area much easier.’
The minister says the motorway when complete, allied to a fine train service, will provide a magnificent transport corridor and a symbol of a new Ireland, north and south.
Meanwhile, if the public sector was to undertake the western by-pass project costs would amount to approximately €340m, excluding land costs, with the construction element amounting to €160m alone, it is revealed at the contract signing.
Instead a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the scheme will introduce significant private sector funding from banks and consortium members in the order of €140m.
‘ This will ensure earlier delivery of important national road schemes and increase the scale of road construction activity above what would be possible through reliance on Exchequer funding alone,’ explains Dundalk man and National Road Authority chairman, Peter Malone.