Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

[Article] State paying €111,000 a week to toll road operators

  • 13-06-2011 8:37am
    #1
    n97 mini
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭


    Monday June 13 2011
    THE State has paid thousands to subsidise the toll operators of two of the country's new motorways.

    It comes as the National Roads Authority (NRA) has been told not to build any new roads because there is no money available.

    The NRA last night admitted it paid almost €1.8m over a four-month period last year to the private operators of the N18 Limerick Tunnel motorway and the M3 motorway in Meath.

    The money is being paid because the NRA guaranteed a certain number of vehicles would use each privately-funded road when they opened.

    Because the numbers have not always been reached, the roads authority has had to make up for the loss of tolls. And unless traffic volumes in the Limerick Tunnel and on the M3 motorway improve, the NRA faces the prospect of paying more than €5.7m in 2011 to the private operators.

    New figures show payments to the operators of the Limerick Tunnel between September and December last year amounted to €1.24m, while payments for the M3 Clonee-to-Kells motorway between October and December came to €547,000.

    This works out at an average of €111,000 per week.

    The NRA said the traffic guarantee was only in place on the M3 and Limerick Tunnel because they were expensive and challenging projects to deliver.

    A spokesman added the authority had been paid €1.47m last year by the operators of other motorways which were turning a profit, including the M1 to Belfast and M4 at Kilcock. "The way to attract bids with more competition is you offer a guarantee for high-risk jobs," NRA spokesman Sean O'Neill said. "This is called a debt-payment guarantee. The reason they're in these contracts is the size of the M3 and the complexity in building the Limerick tunnel. If you give this guarantee, you get more bidders and better prices."

    The Limerick Tunnel was built by a consortium called Direct Route (Limerick) Ltd, which includes one of the State's biggest building contractors, Sisk, and AIB.

    Tunnel

    The tunnel cost €660m to build and was opened to traffic in July last year. It was designed to take 22,000 vehicles a day from Limerick city centre and includes a 675-metre tunnel under the River Shannon.

    Tolls range from 90c for a motorbike to €1.80 for a car and €5.70 for a truck.

    The M3 is operated by Eurolink Motorway Operation Ltd, made up of Spanish company Cintra Concesiones de lnfraestructuras de Transporte SA, and SIAC Construction Ltd.

    It opened last summer and cost almost €1bn to build. Tolls range from €1.30 for a car and €3.30 for a truck, and 23,000 vehicles were expected to use it each day.

    The NRA defended the payments, saying the roads were needed for the economy and that the payments would cease when the financial situation improved.

    - Paul Melia

    Irish Independent

    The NRA have got some dumbass negotiators, no doubt. The large tub of Vaseline on the table belonging to Eurolink should have been a clue.


Comments

  • #2
    Oliver1985
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭Oliver1985


    :mad::mad::mad::eek::eek::eek::mad::mad::mad::eek::eek::eek:


  • #3
    AlekSmart
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,005 ✭✭✭✭AlekSmart


    n97 mini wrote: »
    The NRA have got some dumbass negotiators, no doubt. The large tub of Vaseline on the table belonging to Eurolink should have been a clue.

    I say well done to the Toll Franchisee's for their highly defined ability to spot a suitably enthusiastic Minister for Transport to whom they could wax lyrical about the fantastic benefits of their wonderful,nay,magnificent schemes !

    I do also,coincidentally,want to wish former Minister for Transport,Noel Dempsey a long and fruitful retirement after a productive tenure in that Ministerial role....Well done Noel ;)

    Did'nt the Navan corridor do well all the same ? :D

    Today's article also has a bearing on this thread....

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056290234

    All those nasty Tax Evaders refusing to step-up-to-the-plate and support their local Toll Franchisee.......no wonder the country is in the state it is "!!!


    Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

    Charles Mackay (1812-1889)



  • #4
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,596 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    why did anyone think that we'd learn from the mistakes of the M50 toll bridge where NTR didn't have to meet any targets with regard to delays

    iirc there was a suggestion in the early days of them having to open the barriers if the queue extend beyond a few hundred meters ?

    still we solved that little oversight and it only costs us the gurs of a bilion euro


Advertisement