This article is from page 5 of the 2011-02-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 5 JPG
THE CREATION of hundreds of jobs in the north Clare and south Galway area have been put on hold following the news that construction work on the € 300 million Gort to Tuam motorway is to be delayed.
Work on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was due to commence earlier this month but the National Roads Authority (NRA) have confirmed this the project has experienced difficulties due to problems obtaining funding from supporting banks.
This is the second delay which has struck the motorway, which will be used by hundreds of Clare commuters each day when completed, following a four month delay in signing contracts with the projects main contractors, the the BAM/Balfour Beatty Consortium, last September.
This delay in signing the contracts caused the construction start-time for the motorway to be put back from November of 2010 to January of 2011.
In October of 2010 a spokesperson from the NRA confirmed to the Clare People that “despite rumours to the contrary” construction work on the motorway would begin in early 2011. Despite these reassurances NRA spokesperson, Sean O’Neill, confirmed over the weekend that construction work would be delayed on the project. Mr O’Neill also said that the NRA was still committed to the 57-kilometre project and hoped that that matter would be resolved soon.
“This delay has arisen due to concerns on the part of the funding banks relating to the sovereign debt situation in Ireland, and these concerns have impacted on the timing of progressing to financial close,” he said.
It had been expected that work on the project, which would complete the Ennis to Galway motorway, will be completed by 2014 however, it is not clear when construction work on the motorway will now be able to begin.
The delay comes as a blow to the business community in north Clare and south Galway with a number of local companies expected to act as suppliers and sub contractors to the main development team.
It is also expected that the influx of workers would give a boost to the local economy.
Once completed the motorway will connect the Gort/Crusheen bypass to the M6 motorway east of Oranmore – bypassing Ardrahan, Kilcolgan and Clarinbridge. It is expected to reduce the commute time between Ennis and Galway by 15 minutes.