This article is from page 14 of the 2006-03-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE construction arm of controversial US conglomerate, Halliburton, has withdrawn from plans to construct the €375m Shannon tunnel.
Kellogg Brown & Root Limited (KBR) was part of the “Direct Route” consortium that was identified as having “the most economically advantageous tender” to complete the public-private partnership (PPP) project last year.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday identified “Direct Route” as the “preferred tenderer” for the project.
Construction work on the scheme – which will involve the construction of a €100 million 900-metre tunnel under the River Shannon – is due to start later this year.
In the toll scheme adopted by the NRA for the project, car drivers are to be charged €1.60 to access the tunnel. Truck-drivers will have to pay €5.46.
This is the biggest infrastructural scheme being undertaken by the NRA outside Dublin.
KBR employs 64,000 people in 43 countries around the world and as part of the Direct Route consortium would have received a portion of the estimated €456 million that would be generated in tolls from the tunnel over the first 30 years of its operation.
The other companies involved in the “Direct Route” consortium include the Austrian company, Strabag AG; John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Limited; Lagan Holdings Limited and Roadbridge Ltd.
The Texas-based Halliburton conglomerate is the biggest private contractor for American forces in Iraq and has received contracts worth some $18 billion dollars for its work there.
US Vice-President, Dick Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton in the five years immediately prior to taking office. He earned €45 million during his tenure at the world’s largest oil-and-gasservices company.
One of the many contracts that Halliburton has secured from the US Government is the €37 million deal to build prison camps in Cuba’s Guantánamo Bay for suspected terrorists. The company has had more than 35 of its contractors killed while working in Iraq.
Irish firm Roughan and O’Donovan has replaced KBR in the tunnel consortium. Construction is expected to take four years.