[Article] Tenders sought for Metro contract

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-345611815-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Tenders sought for Metro contract
23/11/03 00:00
By Niamh Connolly and Ian Kehoe

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has invited companies to tender for a consultancy contract for the Dublin Metro, even though the project has not yet received cabinet approval.

The RPA wants insurance consultants to provide advice on the €2.4 billion metro and has set a deadline of December 18 for submission of tenders.

No formal proposals have yet been presented to cabinet on the metro and transport minister Seamus Brennan faces an uphill battle to convince senior finance officials of the merits of a high-speed metro over a mainline spur to the airport. Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy last month stressed that the metro project had not been approved by the cabinet.

Brennan is determined that the airport metro should be viewed as the first phase of a Dublin countywide metro project to be built over the next decade. He intends to bring final proposals to cabinet before Christmas, but has admitted that McCreevy must first be convinced of the merits for a metro in the current economic climate.

The proposed 11.5km airport metro route would go through Ballymun and Glasnevin, run underground at Dublin City University, then travel via the Mater Hospital and O'Connell Street to St Stephen's Green. It remains unclear if the route will run through Connolly, Pearse or Tara stations.

An RPA spokesman confirmed it had published a qualification notice for the future appointment of insurance advisers. "There is no firm date for the appointment of such advisers. A part of the design project was to have insurance advice in place when and if it was required," he said.

The RPA last month sought tenders for preliminary soil investigations on the metro. Geotech Specialists emerged as the preferred bidder, but the RPA board ruled that investigations should not proceed until "there was greater clarification in relation to the metro", as reported in this newspaper.

The business plan drawn up by the RPA involves repayments of €300 to €400 million over a 25-year leasing deal, to be paid when the metro goes into operation.

Informed sources said the European Commission last week clarified certain financing issues relating to the impact of capital spending on major infrastructural projects on the national stability pact. The clarification is believed to have positive implications for the proposed metro leasing arrangement.

Lord Glentoran

I know.. I know.. Zombie thread. But, more pertinently, Zombie Metro. Shows up Official Ireland's unwillingness to do anything other than talk about a rail connection to Dublin Airport.

Del.Monte

I seem to remember that electrification of the Dublin/Bray line was first considered in the 1890s.