[Article] €2 billion of "Big road projects finally get go-ahead"

munchkin_utd

MOTORWAY PROJECTS and new roads that had been put on the long finger are expected to get the go-ahead when the Cabinet signs off a €2 billion stimulus package tomorrow aimed at “job-rich” sectors of the economy.

The Department of Transport will be a key beneficiary of the “off-balance-sheet” funding, along with strategic infrastructure projects in education such as the postponed Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin will announce the suite of measures formulated after the Government examined non-traditional ways to fund previously announced flagship projects. Investment for many projects had to be delayed when the capital spending budget for this year was cut by €755 million to €3.9 billion last November.

The bulk of funding for the schemes, selected because of their capacity to stimulate economic growth, will come from the proceeds of the sale of State assets, with contributions from the National Pensions Reserve Fund, public-private partnerships and the European Investment Bank.

“There will definitely be a big focus on roads. This will include some motorways as well as brand new roads,” a Government source said. The new roads will be previously announced projects that had not been started<snip>

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0716/1224320204151.html

very good to see that these necessary projects are getting the go ahead when it can be done at it's cheapest and the most economic benefit can be had.

And as I pointed out before, theres already billions spent on strategic corridors with Cork-Sligo being the prime example with the motorway sections, some massive roads in Mayo and the Limerick Tunnel now in place.
Despite the massive spending so far, the benefits of the new sections are negated by the missing links where the roads are dangerous or slow and the missing bypasses that can cost you hours on a long journey on a busy day (especially when bizarrely Irish radio does NOT do traffic reports outside commuting times to alert you of chronic traffic jams, ahem).

By spending the few euro extra on things like the Claregalway bypass or the full motorway to Tuam you are not just getting an improved situation locally. You're actually then getting full economic value of the entire route including already built sections.

munchkin_utd

also in the independent.

THE country's road network will be one of the main beneficiaries of a €2bn stimulus package to be announced tomorrow -- but almost no money will go towards fixing potholes.

The focus will be on motorway projects and important national roads, rather than fixing damaged local and smaller roads.

This is because all projects funded by the stimulus package have to be public private partnerships (PPPs) -- with the State a minority player -- to keep them off national balance sheets, so that they don't add to the already huge deficit.

Road repairs and smaller projects are likely to be ruled out because they are not of a large-enough scale to come under PPPs.

At the opposite end, other significant infrastructural projects under the Department of Transport's umbrella -- such as DART Underground and Metro North -- are too big, and would take up too large a portion of the €2bn fund.

It also means that the A5 motorway to Derry -- which was to be co-funded by the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive -- will not go ahead, since the Stormont administration does not want to build it via a PPP.

Transport sources said road projects were well positioned because they had specific motorways lined up and ready to go in case funding became available.

Road projects likely to benefit will be similar to the N7 Newlands Cross junction upgrade, and the N11 Arklow-Rathnew road -- a single PPP which was announced late last year.

Outside the transport area, other projects expected to get funding are the shelved Grangegorman Dublin Institute of Technology campus on the capital's northside and the new national children's hospital, the location of which will be decided before September.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/roads-to-benefit-most-from-2bn-aid-package-3168810.html

The preparation work for various major projects is now paying off it seems.

invinciblePRSTV

If its €2 billion in total for all infrastructure projects then there is probably not going to be any money for roads above and beyond the paying for the M11/7 upgrades (important) and the M17/18 (not so much).

A crying shame DU and MN continue to be ignored into oblivion.

tomflynn

munchkin_utd wrote: »

The preparation work for various major projects is now paying off it seems.

What are these projects, that are not already 'announced' as proceeding with funding to be forthcoming from EIB i.e. M17/18 http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/2009/20090576.htm and M11/N7 http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/2009/20090577.htm apparently with Bank of Ireland http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1221/1224309340432.html.

Is this funding likely to focus on the previously announced PPP bundles http://www.nra.ie/Publications/DownloadableDocumentation/PublicPrivatePartnership/file,16119,en.pdf that have been quietly progressing with land acquisition i.e. M11 Enniscorthy Bypass / N25 New Ross Bypass PPP Bundle http://www.enniscorthyguardian.ie/news/like-winning-the-lottery-for-bypass-landowners-3085970.html or is there any other projects favoured by the 'new government' as the M20 has been shelved for the moment?

rameire

one road that will supposedly gain from this is the Athy southern disti road.
cost is about €30million.

FullBeard

Where is this money coming from exactly?

munchkin_utd

FullBeard wrote: »

Where is this money coming from exactly?

that should be all clear tomorrow.

Theres mentioning about selling state assets, but other mentioning of not selling them now.
So maybe some or all of the extra cash needed to match EIB funds is borrowing against the collateral/ reciepts of the sale of state assets when the time is right.

Bards

tomflynn wrote: »

What are these projects, that are not already 'announced' as proceeding with funding to be forthcoming from EIB i.e. M17/18 http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/2009/20090576.htm and M11/N7 http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/2009/20090577.htm apparently with Bank of Ireland http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1221/1224309340432.html.

Is this funding likely to focus on the previously announced PPP bundles http://www.nra.ie/Publications/DownloadableDocumentation/PublicPrivatePartnership/file,16119,en.pdf that have been quietly progressing with land acquisition i.e. M11 Enniscorthy Bypass / N25 New Ross Bypass PPP Bundle http://www.enniscorthyguardian.ie/news/like-winning-the-lottery-for-bypass-landowners-3085970.html or is there any other projects favoured by the 'new government' as the M20 has been shelved for the moment?

With Howlin from Wexford, I would expect at least one road upgrade in his constituency - Enniscorthy Bypass would be my guess

Sponge Bob

The NPRF will provide 'overdraft' funding for the state contribution PENDING asset sales to pay the NPRF back.

Up to €350m of the €2bn will be for Broadband it seems. €500m for water and no more than €700m for roads.

Furthermore the €700m for roads will include at least €200m that is already spent on land acquisition and planning so make that €500m.

FullBeard

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The NPRF will provide 'overdraft' funding for the state contribution PENDING asset sales to pay the NPRF back.

Up to €350m of the €2bn will be for Broadband it seems. €500m for water and no more than €700m for roads.

Furthermore the €700m for roads will include at least €200m that is already spent on land acquisition and planning so make that €500m.

And what do you suspect they'll do with that 500m?

tonc76

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The NPRF will provide 'overdraft' funding for the state contribution PENDING asset sales to pay the NPRF back.

Up to €350m of the €2bn will be for Broadband it seems. €500m for water and no more than €700m for roads.

Furthermore the €700m for roads will include at least €200m that is already spent on land acquisition and planning so make that €500m.

Where are you getting that info from?

antoobrien

Bards wrote: »

With Howlin from Wexford, I would expect at least one road upgrade in his constituency - Enniscorthy Bypass would be my guess

The Enniscorthy Bypass/New Ross Bypass is one of the 4 projects included in the Second PPP programme, so it's likely that this will get included.

We can't "blame" it on Howlin though, the decision to prioritize these routes was made in 2009

L1011

Arklow-Rathnew will *benefit* Howlin's constituents hugely even if its not in his constituency. That's the one I'm extremely eager to see started.

Irish and Proud

What about Dunkettle and GCOB - any chance???

Chris_5339762

GCOB is still in the courts, although they could 'allocate' money to that then not have to spend it.

Dunkettle seems like an obvious choice.

M20 is out as the total cost is about a billion and it isn't shovel ready.

I'd hope Enniscorthy/New Ross gets this but I reckon they might do some small stuff to spread the money out rather than one big project.

M7 widening maybe would be part of it?

antoobrien

Irish and Proud wrote: »

What about Dunkettle and GCOB - any chance???

There have been reports in Galway that GCOB is top of the list pending the ECJ/Supreme court case. Since the hearing won't happen until September, I don't think GCOB will be mentioned tomorrow as it'll be October at the earliest before a decision is made, then it'll have to go to the Supreme court.

Wrt Dunkettle, it'll depend on how far along in planning it is. It might jump a few places in the list due to the economic benefit vs other proposed projects.

tomflynn

antoobrien wrote: »

pending the ECJ/Supreme court case

From European Courts of Justice: Case C-258/11

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings
26/05/2011

Date of the Opinion
Nil

Date of the hearing
Nil

Date of delivery
Nil

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/fiche.jsf?id=C%3B258%3B11%3BRP%3B1%3BP%3B1%3BC2011%2F0258%2FP&pro=&lgrec=en&nat=&oqp=&dates=&lg=&language=en&jur=C%2CT%2CF&cit=none%252CC%252CCJ%252CR%252C2008E%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252Ctrue%252Ctrue%252Ctrue&num=C-258%252F11&td=ALL&pcs=O&avg=&mat=or&jge=&for=&cid=338236

My assessment : progress slow and NIL. If this is announced as part of the infrastructure stimulus funding, it means something to potentially reannounce again in a year to 18 months time, assuming a positive legal outcome by year end (in hope).

FGR

Hopefully it's Dunkettle and the Enniscorthy bypass. How the latter wasn't done during the good times is beyond me.

Also - I find it mad how the M20 is still being put on the back burner. That said the whole Atlantic Corridor project was a great idea even though most of it was pie in the sky.

AugustusMinimus

Having Dunkettle along with Bandon and Sarsfield Road roundabouts done would be huge for Cork.

The tailbacks every evening at Dunkettle can be chronic.

The opening of Bandon and Sarsfield should also reduce the traffic going through Bishopstown I suspect.

marmurr1916

It's the M18/M17 and the N25/N11 that are getting most of the roads funding:

Major roads in Galway and Wexford will be among the infrastructure projects to receive funding when a stimulus package of more than €2 billion is announced today.

Investment in schools and primary healthcare facilities will also be outlined by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin this afternoon.

The N17/N18 Gort to Tuam scheme and N11/25 Enniscorthy and New Ross bypasses are expected to benefit from “off-balance-sheet” funding from public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar will benefit from a series of announcements, as some schemes he was forced to shelve last August can now proceed.

The Cabinet will this morning sign off on the infrastructure stimulus package aimed at labour-intensive sectors of the economy including construction. Funding will be “north of €2 billion”, according to a source.

The money will come from PPPs and the sale of State assets, the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The so-called job-rich schemes have been selected because of their potential to stimulate economic growth and because they are “shovel-ready” in most instances.

...

The N18 Oranmore-Gort scheme was combined with the M17 Galway to Tuam scheme and the N17 Tuam bypass scheme into one large scheme 57km long, known as the N17/N18 Gort-Tuam PPP scheme. The N25 New Ross bypass and the Gorey- Enniscorthy project ranks as the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Co Wexford.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0716/1224320204151.html

black47

marmurr1916 wrote: »

It's the M18/M17 and the N25/N11 that are getting most of the roads funding:



http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0716/1224320204151.html

does that mean that N7 Newlands cross upgrade and Rathnew to Arklow are being omitted? Seems strange

tomflynn

marmurr1916 wrote: »

It's the M18/M17 and the N25/N11 that are getting most of the roads funding:



http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0716/1224320204151.html

Let's hope their source for this info is not this thread!

antoobrien

black47 wrote: »

does that mean that N7 Newlands cross upgrade and Rathnew to Arklow are being omitted? Seems strange

No, that project already has funding committed - it's supposed to start in October pending BAM raising their PPP capital. I'd imagine though that there'll be some funding from this to make it a bit easier.

tomflynn wrote: »

Let's hope their source for this info is not this thread!

If you were reading this forum last December you'd know that these two roads were announced for funding in 2012 (M11/NX) & 2013 (M17/18). That's why the journos are making the assumptions that they are.

FullBeard

I welcome the recent announcement. New Ross and Enniscorthy badly need a bypass and this will make cross country travel to Wexford much easier and safer for people in the mid- and south-west.

Also very good that the Galway to Limerick motorway will be completed.

I think we need Dunkettle; Cork to Limerick; Waterford to Limerick; Derry to M1; and Galway Bypass to be improved now, and then we're in a very good position roads-wise.

marmurr1916

These are the major road projects which are due to be funded under this initiative:

Transport: In the transport sector €850 million will be invested in upgrading the national motorway and primary route network. In the west, the N17/N18 Gort to Tuam will provide 57 kilometres of motorway providing a bypass of Clarinbridge, Claregalway and Tuam. The M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy project will involve the upgrading of 26 kilometres of road to motorway and will include a bypass of Enniscorthy. The N25 New Ross Bypass will provide approximately 13.6 kilometres of new road from Glenmore at the eastern border of Kilkenny and crossing over the River Barrow via a new bridge into Wexford. A further priority transport project is the Galway city bypass - a 12 kilometre orbital route for Galway city linking with the M6 major inter-urban route to Dublin - which is on hold at the moment pending the outcome of legal proceedings. Depending on the outcome of those proceedings it would be hoped to progress it as an additional PPP project.

...

In the Roads sector, the N17/N18 Gort to Tuam will commence in 2013, and the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy and the N25 New Ross bypass by end 2014.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/100308786/Government-Stimulus-2-25bn

Sponge Bob

marmurr1916 wrote: »

These are the major road projects which are due to be funded under this initiative:

A further priority transport project is the Galway city bypass - a 12 kilometre orbital route for Galway city linking with the M6 major inter-urban route to Dublin

http://www.scribd.com/doc/100308786/Government-Stimulus-2-25bn

12km is the length from the N59 to near the airport plus a small realignment of the Headford road in Ballindooley. As I said before the western section will proceed (if ever) as the R336.

black47

marmurr1916 wrote: »

These are the major road projects which are due to be funded under this initiative:



http://www.scribd.com/doc/100308786/Government-Stimulus-2-25bn

While I thoroughly welcome the Gort/Tuam project, I feel that putting the M20 completely on hold is a shame and an oppurtunity missed. When the Newlands x upgrade and Arklow to Rathnew are factored in with todays Enniscorthy and New Ross announcements it amounts to too much of a concentration to the east of the country in my opinion while the road connecting the second and third cities in the state is a death trap. A better spread would have been to include at least the northern half of the M20 project and hold on one of the either the New Ross or Enniscorthy bypasses.

Sponge Bob

black47 wrote: »

While I thoroughly welcome the Gort/Tuam project, I feel that putting the M20 completely on hold is a shame and an oppurtunity missed.

The southern section of the M20 and the N22 Macroom/Ballyvourney bypasses are very very close to clearing final planning ( Inspectors Reports) and are therefore easily reactivated if things improve. They are two of the 10 most advanced major projects in the country.

The Northern half of the M20 is somewhat behind them.

Building a proper Motorway/HQDC from Tuam to Cork is a major national priority.

dorkacle

Nice to see any sort of concious spending with a long term view coming from the state. Not so keen on this selling of public assets though...?

Also very interested to see the mentioning of the DIT Grangegorman Site!
I'll be well finished college by the time that finishes though the plans do look top notch however!

They'd want to be I suppose, DIT have been harping on about it for years now, its about time!

antoobrien

dorkacle wrote: »

Nice to see any sort of concious spending with a long term view coming from the state. Not so keen on this selling of public assets though...?

Also very interested to see the mentioning of the DIT Grangegorman Site!
I'll be well finished college by the time that finishes though the plans do look top notch however!

They'd want to be I suppose, DIT have been harping on about it for years now, its about time!

In fairness the DIT reorganisation is on a scale with the building programme NUI Galway started back in the 90s (which is still producing new buildings). It'll take a while for the benefits to come clear, but when they do get everyone onto the same campus and are able to share services etc there should be a lot of savings that will make it worth their while.

Edit - the biggest contributor to the exchequer from the public assets is is the lottery, so that I'd keep on the books. However the rest of them only produce about €100m between them.

antoobrien

black47 wrote: »

While I thoroughly welcome the Gort/Tuam project, I feel that putting the M20 completely on hold is a shame and an oppurtunity missed. When the Newlands x upgrade and Arklow to Rathnew are factored in with todays Enniscorthy and New Ross announcements it amounts to too much of a concentration to the east of the country in my opinion while the road connecting the second and third cities in the state is a death trap. A better spread would have been to include at least the northern half of the M20 project and hold on one of the either the New Ross or Enniscorthy bypasses.

Unfortunately that decision was been made last due to the statuses of the projects at the time. I agree that the spread would be better, but it's unfortunately not feasible for it to happen right now.

Hopefully this will kick loose some money to plan routes like this, N17 Tuam-Claremorris (and beyond), N24 etc to complete the western & southern routes.

Limerick74

Sponge Bob wrote: »

black47 wrote: »

While I thoroughly welcome the Gort/Tuam project, I feel that putting the M20 completely on hold is a shame and an oppurtunity missed.

The southern section of the M20 and the N22 Macroom/Ballyvourney bypasses are very very close to clearing final planning ( Inspectors Reports) and are therefore easily reactivated if things improve. They are two of the 10 most advanced major projects in the country.

The Northern half of the M20 is somewhat behind them.

Building a proper Motorway/HQDC from Tuam to Cork is a major national priority.

The N22 Macroom/Ballyvourney Scheme has planning approval but the M20 Scheme (both North & South) was withdrawn from planning by Cork County Council and would take some time to reactivate and get through planning.