Dublin Port Tunnel to be Sold to National Pension Reserve Fund?

mike65

It seems the Minister for Announcements Seamus Brennan may have had an inspired idea, namely to sell of the Port Tunnel to raise money (about a billion) which can be spent on the Motorways plan. The buyer he belives, should be the National Pensions Board who can use thier
stash of several billion to buy it and then get an income from the tolls for the next few decades...

The story is in todays Sunday Times but as I dont subscribe to the web edition I have no link.

Mike.

dmeehan

its in mondays indo too
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/792986?view=Eircomnet

Sale of port tunnel and M1 to fund new road building
From:The Irish Independent
Monday, 26th May, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

THE Government is to sell the Dublin Port Tunnel and the M1 motorway for €2bn to fund the cash-strapped national road building network.

The radical move will involve a private operator imposing tolls on lorries using the tunnel. Under the original plan they were to be toll-free, the Irish Independent learned yesterday.

It is certain to infuriate truckers forced to pay a toll under the privatisation plan. But the move will provide enough cash to kick-start the stalled roads programme.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan is also planning to sell off the M1 motorway from Dublin to the border to pay for the delayed major highways linking Dublin with Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

The minister said he was drawing up a plan to sell the Port Tunnel which is costing €700m to build. "The income could be used for building motorways," he said. "I'm also looking at disposing of the M1 when it reverts to the State. The State is picking up the cost for billions of euro. I'm not convinced this is the best way forward."

Under the Port Tunnel sale a private operator would take over the operation and maintenance of the tunnel and the profits for a 25-year period. But at a cost of between €1bn and €2bn, the private operator would have to impose a toll on the estimated 9,000 trucks using the tunnel every day.

The State's proceeds from the sale would be ring-fenced and used for major road building projects.

More than 18 major road projects are at the ready-to-go stage having passed all statutory and planning processes, but cannot get off the ground this year as there is no money available.

Funding issues will also delay plans to build motorways linking Dublin with the major cities for at least four years, until 2010.

Victor

"Conditions of such a sale would be complicated, as part of the motorway - the Drogheda bypass - will be tolled from June 9th next." - this is worng there is only a temporary tolling contract for the Drogheda bypass.

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/793913?view=Eircomnet

Talks held on Port Tunnel sale by 2005
From:ireland.com
Monday, 26th May, 2003

Discussions are under way to sell the Dublin Port Tunnel on its completion in 2005, the Department of Transport has confirmed.

Talks have been held between the Transport Minister, Mr Brennan, and the potential buyer, the National Pension Reserve Fund.

The Minister, who is understood to support the planned sale, is now awaiting an official response from the Fund.

The planned cost of buying the tunnel is estimated at between €1 billion and €2 billion, a fee that would be recouped through the charging of a toll on lorries using it. Funds from the sale of the tunnel would be used to kickstart the Department's stalled roads programme.

Eighteen major road projects are ready to go - having passed all planning procedures - but a shortage of funds has delayed work.

Leading economists have recently advised the National Pension Reserve Fund undertake such a purchase.

Should the plan get the go-ahead, the Tunnel would change hands on the completion of its construction in 2005.

But a spokesperson for the Department of Transport played down a report that suggested Minister Brennan also intended selling the M1 motorway linking Dublin to Belfast.

Conditions of such a sale would be complicated, as part of the motorway - the Drogheda bypass - will be tolled from June 9th next.

sceptre

Ignoring the fact that I think it a good thing that some of the pension fund will be put in money-making bricks'n'mortar investments rather than purely in the stock market...

... it's an interesting way of getting around the "hey, it's ring-fenced so it's safe!" problem that McCreevy has and putting a billion euros back into the economy.