Will you Boycott the tolled Limerick Tunnel?

Raiser

When is the last time you paid to drive through Corks Jack Lynch Tunnel and how much did it cost you?

The fact is that despite original plans to toll this route the People of Cork refused to accept that proposition on any level.

Seeing as they paid and continue to pay enough VAT on petrol/diesel, VAT on all car parts, VRT and substantial Motor tax they felt that it was ludicrous to ask the poor Motorist to pay even more to drive on a National road.

They were of course right and to this day their common sense and backbone has kept the route toll-free.

Interestingly enough one of the main points of leverage was that the Jack Lynch Tunnel was so close to Cork City Centre it was feared that congestion would result in the City as People avoided the tolls - Sound familiar.....? Morons.

I for one would prefer to push my Car over the New Bridge and out the Condell Road than to pay whatever greedy and already ridiculously wealthy Private Investors Fianna Fail allowed in the door to rob us blind......

If enough People avoid paying this toll altogether they will have to reverse this opportunistic money-making plan or else let the road, tunnel and toll booth sit there unmaintained and unused indefinitely.

neo2010

We shouldn't have to pay for a tunnel built with taxpayers money- which is paid by us. Down with the establishment! :pac:

source

Lads this tunnel was built under PPP (Public Private Partnership), which means that investors put money into the building of the tunnel, if these investors didn't put their own money into the project then it would never have been built.

The problem arises in the fact that these investors will want their money back, which is where the toll comes in. While in theory yes it would be a great idea to avoid the tunnel altogether, and force the gov't and NRA to abolish the toll, the simple fact of the matter is that the gov't borrowed from private investors to build the road and they need paying back.

When the Jack Lynch Tunnel was built there was a lot of money floating around in the economy for the gov't to be able to turn around and pay off the investors, but this time around there is not.

While i agree with the sentiments of the OP i think it's unrealistic, because of what i've outlined above.

johnmolloy554

Raiser wrote: »

Will you Boycott the tolled Limerick Tunnel?

No. And those that do will change their minds when they see the congestion on Condell Road at 8.30am / 5.00pm. Tolled roads are here for good I'm afraid.

Pushtrak

Also, I wouldn't think not paying a toll will result in eliminating the fee, but increasing the fee. That seems to be the usual response to this kind of thing, isn't it? Or am I wrong?

I'm not a driver, anyway, and ask this more out of a curiosity thing rather than practical.

v300

As is usual with a project like this, they will (mark my words)
rip up the old pre-existing road like the Condell Road to do
"essential repairs" for 3 weeks after the tunnel opens,
thereby forcing the road users to either trek thru' a crowded
Limerick city or fly thru' the tunnel.

zuroph

nope, company pays the toll for me, it means i get to whereever i'm going quicker and by the sounds of it will be lovely and quiet!

neo2010

The government should have simply financed the building of the tunnel themselves instead of having to incur tolls on the public to pay back investors. It's not like they didn't have the money.

D-A-V-E

im seeing that there are already massive toll booths and big fancy towers around them, why dont they make them electronic at least? so that queues wont accumulate? like what they're doing on the m1

Raiser

foinse wrote: »

Lads this tunnel was built under PPP (Public Private Partnership), which means that investors put money into the building of the tunnel, if these investors didn't put their own money into the project then it would never have been built.

The problem arises in the fact that these investors will want their money back, which is where the toll comes in. While in theory yes it would be a great idea to avoid the tunnel altogether, and force the gov't and NRA to abolish the toll, the simple fact of the matter is that the gov't borrowed from private investors to build the road and they need paying back.

When the Jack Lynch Tunnel was built there was a lot of money floating around in the economy for the gov't to be able to turn around and pay off the investors, but this time around there is not.

While i agree with the sentiments of the OP i think it's unrealistic, because of what i've outlined above.

With all due respect Foinse, and to argue with your case rather than just be contrary, the above is built on a foundation of partial fact and delivered by someone who seems to come have accepted what is a ludicrous and totally unsatisfactory situation as an acceptable norm.

The Investors in this project are individuals who have amassed great fortunes by habitually spotting opportunities - they will not "want their money back" - That doesn't make any sense whatsoever as it would not benefit them in any way..... No they want their money back plus whatever substantial figures Fianna Fail, the NRA and the Scum within both who are hoping to profit as a sideline, have promised them will flood into their own overflowing Bank accounts day on day & year on year indefinitely. Given the undisputed existing wealth involved here you can be guaranteed the sums involved will not be a pittance either.

Imagine this scenario for example, stand on the Condell road with a bucket demanding €3 from every car that passes you for 24 hours - How long before you need another bucket? How long before you need a Securicor Van?

On another note - Why couldn't this project ever have been built without asking Wealthy Investors to come on board? Thats nonsense, Countries that have never even dreamed of robbing its Citizens blind by inventing a shameful double taxation curse called VRT can build roads - they tax their Citizens and then they can afford the roads. We collect tax everywhere, we even have inheritance tax so that when your Granny dies the Revenue Commissioner leaves her funeral with his cut overflowing from his briefcase.....

There is so much taxation revolving around the simple act of buying, owning, running and maintaining a car it is actually amazing that we are not all back on horseback. To then turn around and say that we can't afford to build a road without investment from Britain's Aristocracy or whoever else wants to turn a handy profit at the Irish Taxpayers expense is absolutely incredible.

I sincerely hope that People refuse to comply with this greedy, unfair, opportunistic, cynical undertaking - If we don't have standards that we are prepared to stand by and a sense of right and wrong in the face of those that seek to do us an injustice then we are indeed going to be poor in spirit as well as in material things.

Berty

No we should not boycott the Toll.

As a PPP company they must have a return in the cost of building the road. I think the cost of travelling through it justifies the cost of the toll.

source

Raiser, the only country i know that has big relatively toll free roads is the USA, most other countries, especially European countries have toll roads. I was in France last August and it cost me €35 to travel from Rennes to Dieppe on Autoroutes. This PPP practice is the norm, while i don't agree with it, it's a well established way of building expensive roads.

Raiser

Berty wrote: »

No we should not boycott the Toll.

As a PPP company they must have a return in the cost of building the road. I think the cost of travelling through it justifies the cost of the toll.

Why in the name of God do you feel that a consortium of Wealthy Individuals and Organisations who are driven by greed into persuading a corrupt Government to neglect one of its most basic duties should be rewarded by making massive profits?

Its wrong on so many levels - even from a simple monetary perspective the sums just don't add up - If tolling roads is profitable then why don't they toll them and use the resulting return of funds to build Incinerators for the Green Party?

So who are the "Private" element involved here?

Take a look at the directroute.ie site here

Last link is for Halliburtons KBR arm - Link is broken though? Strange that although Halliburton does seem to be making certain moves to distance itself from KBR if you're to believe the points raised here

KBRs own Wiki page here has the alarming sections:

Employee Safety - 81 dead and 380 injured in ~18 months
Sexual Assault - References Gang rape.
Human Trafficing Lawsuit - Forced labour abroad while dispossessed of passport.
Burns Pit Lawsuit - Burning hazardous toxic waste - ~20 Lawsuits
Political Controversy - Too long to detail here - It sound like something Fianna Fail would relish though.
Tax avoidance via Cayman Isles - Self explanatory.
Bribing Nigerian Officials - "tens of millions of dollars" in bribes to Nigerian officials in order to win government contracts

Seems like the last thing that KBR need right now is to be publicly associated with Fianna Fail - Now that might really be an embarrassment......

oh well

will probably not use it if at all possible, even during peak times. They have tolled just the tunnel and not all the other much longer approach roads. Cars can travel long lengths from Newport area to Adare and not pay a penny and the shortest (ok, ok .... and the most expensive road) will cost probably in region of 3e each way.

by the way, wonder who's behind the new signs on the Condel Road - "Bus Lane and No Bus Route", "Waste of our tax Euros", and "give us roadds we can use". Just came along the new bus lane on Ennis Road outside maternity this afternoon, ffs. What a major waste of time, money and space.

phog

I'll pay the toll when I think it is the better option to use that route, the same as I do when I use the M50 and M8 between Mitchelstown and the Jack Lynch tunnel.

There's many a time I've sat on Lwr Shelbourne Rd and said I'd gladly pay my few euro to cross the Shannon now.

source

The thing people seem to not realise, is the toll is for the portion of the road which is causing the most expense, for example the M50 toll is for the rather massive bridge which had to be built, same with the M8 passing Fermoy, the Dublin port tunnel, and here in Limerick it will be the tunnel, Sure no toll would be fantastic in an ideal world, , however we're talking about something that costs a phenomenal amount of money to build, that money must come from somewhere.


And yes raiser, the investors will get a percentage of the profit once the building costs have been offset, that's how the business world works, someone gives you the money now to do something you want to do, on the understanding that they will get something in return.

Before you start going on about how this is supposed to be a public amenity, it is not. what it is, is a company set up by the Gov't and private investors, to provide a service to the public at a nominal cost.

While you might not think this is an acceptable way of providing roads to the people of this country, I realise that these projects cost a lot of money which has to come from somewhere. Also it seems to be an acceptable method to pretty much every other country in the world where large scale road projects have taken place.

Also the fact that there is a toll on the M8 leading into the tunnel, would i imagine, have aided in the ability of the PPP company to not have a toll on the jack lynch tunnel. Allowing them to still recoup the cost of the tunnel and the bridge and also earn a profit from the running of these.

zuroph

D-A-V-E wrote: »

im seeing that there are already massive toll booths and big fancy towers around them, why dont they make them electronic at least? so that queues wont accumulate? like what they're doing on the m1

This will be fine, all lanes will be equipped to deal with tags and some free flow lanes will be in place too. They work fine in fermoy and waterford

phog

oh well wrote: »

will probably not use it if at all possible, even during peak times. They have tolled just the tunnel and not all the other much longer approach roads. Cars can travel long lengths from Newport area to Adare and not pay a penny and the shortest (ok, ok .... and the most expensive road) will cost probably in region of 3e each way.

by the way, wonder who's behind the new signs on the Condel Road - "Bus Lane and No Bus Route", "Waste of our tax Euros", and "give us roadds we can use". Just came along the new bus lane on Ennis Road outside maternity this afternoon, ffs. What a major waste of time, money and space.

Well at least there's a bus route on this road unlike the Condell Rd.

seclachi

I`ll use it, but I dont live in Limerick, so it will be occasional. You can give out about VRT, Vat and everything else, but it wont make the balance sheets add up at the end of the day. It would be great if the government could pay for the whole thing, as it will be more effective with less toll dodgers like in Cork.

Either way though, having the tunnel is a benefit, either if its tolled or not, if you use it you will get a faster journey, if you dont you`ll benefit from less heavy traffic.I have been in plenty of other developed countrys which people exclaim are far better than ireland that also have tolls for many bridges and the like, its just a fact of life.

oh well

but the bus route outside the maternity is surely all of 100meters broken up twice by left turns. Can't see where a bus is going to make any headway at all there. Remember reading in one of the papers the cost of it and I thought it was going to be the length of the Ennis Road from the Union Cross from the price of it.

sceptre

Raiser wrote: »

I for one would prefer to push my Car over the New Bridge and out the Condell Road

Wouldn't even dream of boycotting the tunnel then - I'd hate to get stuck behind that in traffic.

nouveau_4.0

Calm down people. Tho Clondell road is still open. The tunnel is an alternative you can choose to pay for if you wish. The PPP aren't taking money out of your pocket, unless you choose to use their product.

Also the private part have a cap on how much they earn from this tunnel. When they reach their target of original investment + X% profit they hand it back to the government, who can then choose to remove the toll, or generate some income for the country from it. Something which did not happen on the M50 if I'm not mistaken. We should be more outraged about the M50, than the Limerick tunnel.

Berty

nouveau_4.0 wrote: »

We should be more outraged about the M50, than the Limerick tunnel.

Pah! Councillors in Dublin said that there should be an increase in tax so the M50 would be removed with little care for people who do not drive on the M50.

So if Dubliner's do not care about anything past the pale then why should people in Limerick care about the M50.

Victor

Raiser wrote: »

We collect tax everywhere, we even have inheritance tax so that when your Granny dies the Revenue Commissioner leaves her funeral with his cut overflowing from his briefcase.....

Ah, come on, while this thread has its fair share of gobshítism, we do not have an inheritance tax, nevermind one that collects at funerals.

We do have Capital Acquisitions Tax, which has very generous allowances - the first half million you get from your parents is tax free. Now, if you want to target rich individuals, target that.

irishvamp90

oh well wrote: »

will probably not use it if at all possible, even during peak times. They have tolled just the tunnel and not all the other much longer approach roads. Cars can travel long lengths from Newport area to Adare and not pay a penny and the shortest (ok, ok .... and the most expensive road) will cost probably in region of 3e each way.

by the way, wonder who's behind the new signs on the Condel Road - "Bus Lane and No Bus Route", "Waste of our tax Euros", and "give us roadds we can use". Just came along the new bus lane on Ennis Road outside maternity this afternoon, ffs. What a major waste of time, money and space.

Someone making a good point and having a protest

irishvamp90

why didnt they just build simple buildings?no need for big fancy towers for feck sake

Mc Love

Simple answer - NO

Victor

Kinsale Road to Dunkettle via tunnel. 100% national route. All dual carriageway. 8.4 km – about 9 mins.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Kinsale+Rd%2FN27&daddr=51.904487,-8.387203&hl=en&geocode=FbWBFwMdNrN-_w%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&sll=51.903745,-8.383341&sspn=0.011333,0.027595&ie=UTF8&ll=51.891007,-8.426685&spn=0.045343,0.110378&t=h&z=13

Kinsale Road to Dunkettle via South City Link Road. 100% national route. Mostly dual carriageway or free-flowing one-way streets. 9.1 km – about 14 mins

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Kinsale+Rd%2FN27&daddr=51.901495,-8.460503+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FbWBFwMdNrN-_w%3B%3BFYoAGAMdygaA_w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=13&via=1&sll=51.894503,-8.4375&sspn=0.04534,0.110378&ie=UTF8&ll=51.891113,-8.431492&spn=0.045343,0.110378&t=h&z=13

Conclusion: putting a toll on the Jack Lynch Tunnel would be ineffective as most traffic would bypass it.

Now, sure, you can not use the tunnel, but in doing so, you are driving through urban areas, costing yourself and society.

Raiser wrote: »

The fact is that despite original plans to toll this route the People of Cork refused to accept that proposition on any level.

Actually, there wasn't a whole lot of discussion about it. Certainly not whiny threads on the internet.

Seeing as they paid and continue to pay enough VAT on petrol/diesel, VAT on all car parts, VRT and substantial Motor tax they felt that it was ludicrous to ask the poor Motorist to pay even more to drive on a National road.

Never entered the equation.

Interestingly enough one of the main points of leverage was that the Jack Lynch Tunnel was so close to Cork City Centre it was feared that congestion would result in the City as People avoided the tolls - Sound familiar.....? Morons.

Eh, no. The South City Link Road and the Collins and DeVelera Bridges meant that much traffic could already avoid the core of the city centre.

I for one would prefer to push my Car over the New Bridge and out the Condell Road than to pay whatever greedy and already ridiculously wealthy Private Investors Fianna Fail allowed in the door to rob us blind......

It was a public tender. if it was such a money making racket others would have bid lower.

If enough People avoid paying this toll altogether they will have to reverse this opportunistic money-making plan or else let the road, tunnel and toll booth sit there unmaintained and unused indefinitely.

I suspect you will be the one who is wrong.

v300 wrote: »

As is usual with a project like this, they will (mark my words)
rip up the old pre-existing road like the Condell Road to do "essential repairs" for 3 weeks after the tunnel opens, thereby forcing the road users to either trek thru' a crowded Limerick city or fly thru' the tunnel.

Would you prefer they dig up the exisitng routes now?

neo2010 wrote: »

The government should have simply financed the building of the tunnel themselves instead of having to incur tolls on the public to pay back investors. It's not like they didn't have the money.

Isn't borrowing money what has us in the current mess? And why should my government borrow money to pay for the road that I won't be using a whole lot?

D-A-V-E wrote: »

im seeing that there are already massive toll booths and big fancy towers around them, why dont they make them electronic at least? so that queues wont accumulate?

Who says they aren't?

Raiser wrote: »

There is so much taxation revolving around the simple act of buying, owning, running and maintaining a car it is actually amazing that we are not all back on horseback. To then turn around and say that we can't afford to build a road without investment from Britain's Aristocracy or whoever else wants to turn a handy profit at the Irish Taxpayers expense is absolutely incredible.

Much hyperbole?

If you want to pay less tax on motoring, you will need to pay more in council charges, income tax, social insurance and property tax. It swings and roundabouts.

foinse wrote: »

Raiser, the only country i know that has big relatively toll free roads is the USA,

On the contrary, many roads in the USA attract tolls and vehicle registration taxes are often annual. Half the bridges and tolls into Manhattan have tolls.

phog

I hope people will bycott the tunnel because at busy times on the three main bridges I can just zip down to the tunnel, pay my few bob and be off to where I need to get rather than sitting in traffic thinking wouldn't it be great if there was an alternative.

sonyair

I will be using the tunnel for sure as it beats going the whole way in the dock and then out the condell, I won't miss those lights and roundabouts

TestTransmission

Handy map for anyone interested in how this is gonna work

http://www.limericktunnel.com/RouteMapInteractive.html

source

Victor wrote: »

On the contrary, many roads in the USA attract tolls and vehicle registration taxes are often annual. Half the bridges and tolls into Manhattan have tolls.

I stand corrected,

zuroph

no matter how many locals boycot it, it will still serve its purpose to take trucks and other commercial traffic off city roads, it will be a success

Raiser

The State cannot afford to build roads, Investors help us to pay in cash instalments known as tolls....

The State cannot afford to build Schools - we simply rent rat-infested, freezing prefabs....

The State cannot afford to build Hospitals, we just utilise the trolley-jammed corridors....

The State cannot afford to pay Nurses, Gardaí or Teachers in sufficient numbers....


- Wow what a State it is that we are in!!!

Some People on here seem to be getting more and more pleased to be in receipt of less and less.

Perhaps ye have been lucky enough to see some evidence of where exactly it is that our tax revenue is being spent, squandered, gambled, or vaulted.......

Itsdacraic

What's the problem here?

Either use the tunnel or don't.

Even if you don't use it you will still experience the benefit of reduced traffic all over the city.

Delphi91

Raiser wrote: »

The State cannot afford to build Schools - we simply rent rat-infested, freezing prefabs....

Untrue - we have PPP schools in the same way that we have PPP roads.

When there's a demand to be serviced, and the goveernment is not necessarily in a position to satisfy the demand completely, then why not get outside investment and companies to invest, provide the facilities and get paid to do so? What's the problem with that?

When you get a loan from a bank to buy something, you pay them back interest - it's exactly the same thing. You can't afford to buy something outright, so you get "outside investment". You get charged interest (plus repayment of the loan) for the privilege of the bank coming in to help you out.

It's how the system works.

Raiser

Delphi91 wrote: »

Untrue - we have PPP schools in the same way that we have PPP roads.

Can you in all honesty tell me that a very significant number of Schoolchildren are not going to return to a Prefab Classroom later this week?

- With temperature lows of -8 or so predicted I'm sure that they'll be asked to keep their jackets on and do vigorous exercises led by the Teacher every hour to warm up - Just like we did in our School back in the 80's

Can't beat progress.

I am not going to criticise anyone on here for having low standards or expectations; Its like a recipe for contentment and I wish you all the very best of luck.

source

Raiser wrote: »

Can you in all honesty tell me that a very significant number of Schoolchildren are not going to return to a Prefab Classroom later this week?

- With temperature lows of -8 or so predicted I'm sure that they'll be asked to keep their jackets on and do vigorous exercises led by the Teacher every hour to warm up - Just like we did in our School back in the 80's

Can't beat progress.

I am not going to criticise anyone on here for having low standards or expectations; Its like a recipe for contentment and I wish you all the very best of luck.

Raiser, i had prefabs in my school back between 95 and 2001, and they were the warmest classrooms in the school, having been purpose build, with insulation and heating which were more modern than the radiators in the school proper.

concussion

foinse wrote: »

Raiser, i had prefabs in my school back between 95 and 2001, and they were the warmest classrooms in the school, having been purpose build, with insulation and heating which were more modern than the radiators in the school proper.

Ditto, the prefabs in LIT are like sauna's while the rest of the college is decidedly cold.

zuroph

surely paying for an untolled road would reduce the governments ability to replace prefabs. Fair play to them for prioritising our childrens welfare above the ease of travel for commercial traffic. Plus all those nasty big vehicles off the school roads, thats got to be good news eh? :pac:

Delphi91

Raiser wrote: »

Can you in all honesty tell me that a very significant number of Schoolchildren are not going to return to a Prefab Classroom later this week?...

I never said that there weren't prefabs in schools - there are. The point that I was making is that an ever-increasing number of new schools sanctioned by the DES are now PPP schools.

Liam Byrne

jackncoke wrote: »

Handy map for anyone interested in how this is gonna work

http://www.limericktunnel.com/RouteMapInteractive.html

Pretty ridiculous option for "Dublin to City Centre" on that!!!

About 10 miles out of the way and adding to an already ridiculously-congested Dock Road!

Also, I still can't figure out why there isn't a spur lane from the Cork-Kerry road to Childers' Rd......it could easily merge from the 270-degree roundabout to the slip road from the eastbound ring-road.....

Raiser

Delphi91 wrote: »

Untrue - we have PPP schools in the same way that we have PPP roads.

Delphi91 wrote: »

I never said that there weren't prefabs in schools - there are. The point that I was making is that an ever-increasing number of new schools sanctioned by the DES are now PPP schools.

Whats "untrue" and wholly disingenuous is to dismiss the daily, widespread and massively ridiculous reality that in 1900's Ireland Schools were built from bricks and mortar and had little fireplaces while today they are comprised of 15 aluminium tissue-box shaped pods that are rented annually from Business People.

=Delphi91 wrote:

When there's a demand to be serviced, and the government is not necessarily in a position to satisfy the demand completely, then why not get outside investment and companies to invest, provide the facilities and get paid to do so? What's the problem with that?

Fine - well if our sad excuse for a "Government" are NOT going to provide ANY Public services, infrastructural development or pay vital Public Servants then they should stop collecting taxes - because right now its very unclear what it is Fianna Fail are doing with our all of our tax money at this point in time??????

Unless you count supporting NAMA in order to keep the Bank Chiefs from revealing the true grip they have over Dail Eireann on debts owed and scandals left unsung.......

What's the latest figure to be trotted out for NAMA? If you take it at €60,000,000,000 its still €6,000,000,000 in excess of our National Debt.

Firefox10

concussion wrote: »

Ditto, the prefabs in LIT are like sauna's while the rest of the college is decidedly cold.

Do they still have those??:eek: Thought they would have got rid of those years ago.

concussion

They do, nothing wrong with them either.

Firefox10

Maybe but I remember some of them used to leak.

concussion

If they did, it was never any I was in! Perhaps they're newer ones, or I've just been lucky so far

Raiser

concussion wrote: »

They do, nothing wrong with them either.

I remember standing in the one they had the pool tables in a few years back and watching a steady stream of rainwater dripping onto an electric heater.....

- Watched from a distance - but yah; Prefabs are fine :rolleyes:

Not going to bother with replying to any more of the "My standards are so low that I've learned to become proud of them statements"

concussion

Raiser wrote: »

Not going to bother with replying to any more of the "My standards are so low that I've learned to become proud of them statements"

Maybe you should read what I said again

concussion wrote: »

If they did, it was never any I was in! Perhaps they're newer ones, or I've just been lucky so far

Modern prefabs, as Foinse noted, are a huge step above the rat infested, wet, cold, broken-floored ones I was taught in ---- 15 years ago.

phog wrote: »

Well at least there's a bus route on this road unlike the Condell Rd.

Expressway services use the Condell Road - 51 & 55 for instance.

Delphi91

Raiser wrote: »

Whats "untrue" and wholly disingenuous is to dismiss the daily, widespread and massively ridiculous reality that in 1900's Ireland Schools were built from bricks and mortar and had little fireplaces while today they are comprised of 15 aluminium tissue-box shaped pods that are rented annually from Business People.

Yes, they may have had fireplaces, but my parents often told of the fact that THEY were the ones who provided the fuel for those fires!

Today's new schools are made from bricks and mortar - I am lucky enough to work in one of those new buildings and it is a far cry from the one that was originally on the site - which I might add was built from wood and fibreglass back in the late 1970's.

I still stand by my original correction of your statement that

The State cannot afford to build Schools - we simply rent rat-infested, freezing prefabs....

Have a look here:http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/projects_proceeding_tender_2009_2010.doc. Over half of the projects are new schools.