[spacetweek]

Originally Posted by antoobrien

I'm pretty sure they didn't buy the land until later - more like 2009.
Edit - the cpo publication & oral hearing wasn't until 2006, so they couldn't have fenced it in 2004.

Sorry Anto, I thought we were talking about the M11. I know M17/18 isn't all fenced off.

Originally Posted by Sponge Bob

Dáil questions indicate that no money is available for PPP payments until 2017 which implies a Mid-Late 2014 start to me.

I don't find this very convincing. They could just make the road take 4 years to build.
Back in the day, DCs and Mways often took 5-7 years to build. But during the recent boom, they only took 2-3 years through the use of early-completion bonuses.
Seems to me you can make a road construction period as long or as short as you like.
Still on for 2013 as far as I'm concerned.

[antoobrien]

Originally Posted by spacetweek

Still on for 2013 as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, Kelly is contradicting what his boss said last December, that funding was planned for 2013. Or Maybe Leo is just getting cute and realized that a Dub telling people from outside dublin (while still planning idiotic things like MN for the pale) is a bad idea.

[serfboard]

Originally Posted by The Galway Independent

Deputy Michael Kitt, who said he was disillusioned by the response from Minister for Transport Alan Kelly to questions raised in relation to the road projects in the Dáil recently. [...]
“[...] It is now reported that consideration has been given to completing the Gort to Athenry section only. This is bad news for Tuam where there is traffic congestion and for years, there have been traffic delays between Tuam and Galway City.”

When questioned on the future of the routes by the Galway Independent, Sean O’Neill of the NRA said that the N17/18 Gort to Tuam Motorway Project is “subject to two main funding challenges” as a result of the current financial difficulties in the private investment community and also in government funding.

“Currently, the N11 Arklow to Rathnew/Newlandscross Flyover Project (combined project) is going through final confirmation of funding from the private investment community. If funding is confirmed on this combined scheme, it would be a positive indicator toward investment support for the construction of the N17/N18 Gort to Tuam Motorway Project,” he added.

However, Deputy Kitt appealed to the Minister to engage with the National Roads Authority to speed up the process and help guarantee the future of the project.

link

Where'd he get this (report of Gort->Athenry only) bit from? The top of his head? Or is there a genuine information (as opposed to gossip) somewhere about this?

Or is he just trying to keep himself in the news and show the great things he's doing for East Galway after being upstaged this week by his West Galway colleague?

[antoobrien]

Originally Posted by serfboard

Where'd he get this (report of Gort->Athenry only) bit from?

That rumour crops up every couple of months, he is the cause of this one himself. He asked a dáil question of Alan Kelly stating these "reports". Kelly responded saying that it was in the best interests of the area concerned that the entire thing be built together.

The one thing I'd take out of the questions is a denial that there are any plans to put a toll on the route.

[jenningso]

http://www.galwaynews.ie/26016-europ...antic-corridor

But where will the rest of the €530 million come from!

[antoobrien]

Originally Posted by jenningso

http://www.galwaynews.ie/26016-europ...antic-corridor

But where will the rest of the €530 million come from!

About €140m has been paid out (hand, studies etc) - I wonder where they're getting the other €100m though because estimates for construction of the road are €250m - €300m.

This doesn't seem to be new (it was first mentioned here 2 years ago) but somebody appears to have asked the question about EIB funding of this project. It appears that up to €170m is still available.

It raises two questions - how much of this money are we likely to see and how much are the preferred bidders trying to raise?

The article also suggests that BAM have actually pulled out (I knew they had funding issues, but don't remember seeing that they have actually pulled out)

Work was due to begin on the €530 million Gort-Tuam route in early 2010, but BAM Balfour Beatty, the private partner pulled out because of difficulties raising the necessary funding.

[Neworder79]

The article also suggests that BAM have actually pulled out (I knew they had funding issues, but don't remember seeing that they have actually pulled out)

May just be sloppy writing on Galway News article, the Irish Times story states:

"the BAM Balfour Beatty consortium was not able to secure suitable funding due to concerns about Ireland’s sovereign debt."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...316807295.html

[glineli]

So does this mean we are any closer to getting this project up and running next year?

[antoobrien]

Originally Posted by glineli

So does this mean we are any closer to getting this project up and running next year?

No, as I said earlier we knew about this 2 years ago.

[Sponge Bob]

This is a FG councillor in Tuam telling us about EIB funds secured in early 2010 and discussed here years ago.

He should go back to what he is good at, ie Chairing the Tuam Credit Union

[yer man!]

Funding from EIB secured apparently.

http://galwayindependent.com/stories...ort-Tuam-route

[MYOB]

Originally Posted by yer man!

Funding from EIB secured apparently.

http://galwayindependent.com/stories...ort-Tuam-route

Secured more than two years ago. Anything pro-Europe is being re-announced due to the referendum.

[antoobrien]

There's a full article about this in the Connacht Tribune today.

Yes it's conveniently announced the week of the referendum but there are a couple of interesting details that are new or explain (plausibly) the reason for the delay when we know there's EIB commitment for 2 years.

Discussions with the European Commission to provide a funding mechanism for the 57km Gort to Tuam motorway are at a “critical stage” and the project could be given the green light in the coming weeks.

We've had about a half dozen false starts, i'm not holding my breath.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin said he is keeping hopes high that €173m in funding can be leveraged from the European Structural Fund and European Investment Bank for the motorway, which would create around 2,500 jobs.

I haven't heard anything about money from the European Structural Fund wrt any roads project in Ireland for a while because we've been out of Objective 1 status (even with the fiddling to keep the BMW region O1 for a bit longer) for a few years.

If the €173m funding – which has been approved in principle by the Investment Bank – can be secured, it’s understood roadbuilding consortium BAM Balfour Beatty would then be in a position to find private investors.

Galway East Labour TD Colm Keaveney told the Connacht Tribune that the project is topping the list of capital-ready projects in this country at the moment.

If it's capital ready wtf is the reason for it not being started already?

He explained (sic Deputy Kenny, Galway East) that technical discussions are taking place between Minister Howlin, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, because Ireland does not have an AAA-rated bank, and a “firewall” for the investment in the road would have to be provided.

The European Investment Bank has already agreed in principle to providing €173m – the backing from Europe is expected to be a strong enough guarantee to the BAM Balfour Beatty consortium to raise the private investment element of the project.

So there are apparently more strings attached to the EIB funding that was clear before (or it could just be window dressing to explain away the "reappearance" of the funding this week)

[mintoffdom]

Originally Posted by MYOB

Secured more than two years ago. Anything pro-Europe is being re-announced due to the referendum.

Cynical doesn't even begin to describe it

[black47]

Taken from RTE website

Ireland to benefit from European Investment Bank collateral rule change

Updated: 19:41, Friday, 22 June 2012

inShare2

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said the European Investment Bank had agreed to relax the collateral rules allowing the Government and the private sector to access fresh funding.
1 of 1 Michael Noonan, pictured with Jean Claude Juncker, announced the change in European Investment Bank's rules after today's ECOFIN meeting


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• Ireland to remain outside financial tax group

The funding is expected to be announced as part of a package of growth measures to be agreed at next week's summit of EU leaders.
Projects which could be earmarked for funding could include the Dublin-Wexford road, the Tuam-Gort road, new schools and community health centres, Mr Noonan said.
EU leaders are expected to increase the capital of the EIB by €10 billion.
The increase could in turn leverage the EIB's lending capacity to up to €60bn which would be spent on infrastructure projects.
Ireland's access to EIB funding is limited, since as a triple A-rated bank it requires certain collateral rules.
But Mr Noonan said the EIB president had agreed to look at ways of relaxing those rules to access more funding.
"At present the EIB are undercommitted to Ireland, so there's scope for improvement." the Minister said.

Fingers crossed