24 May 2001: Motorists travelling between Dublin and Galway are facing tolls totalling £3.30 each way when the new motorway system to the West is complete.

This emerged at an NRA presentation to Kildare County Council this week. Members of the local authority were concerned that local commuters to Dublin would be affected by the planned new 35km stretch of motorway from Kilcock to Kinnegad, which itself will have a toll charge of £1.65. It is also planned to have a tolled section between Ballinasloe and Galway.

At present there are some 324km of dual carriageways and motorways in the country with a further 875kms to be built in the lifetime of the National Development Plan period. Of this, at least 250km will involve Publin Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Gerry Murphy, PPP manager with the NRA, said there is a shift in the proportion of EU financing available for roads development and £1,000m will have to be provided by PPP.

Between 1994 and 1999 EU funds covered 67pc of the development of our primary roads but from 2000-2006 they will cover only 12.7pc of the cost. In addition, the actual funds have halved.

He said the five national routes planned under the National Development Plan would be developed to high quality dual carriageway or motorway standard. They include Dublin to Limerick, Portaoise to Cork, Dublin to Newry, Dublin to Galway; and Dublin to Waterford.

Mr Murphy said by the year 2006 the saving for Dublin-border route will be 24 minutes; 31 mins on the Waterford - Dublin route; 58 mins on the Cork-Dublin journey time; 36 mins off the present Galway-Dublin time and 31 mins off the present Limerick-Dublin time.

All construction work on the various route sections will be completed by the year 2006. The route sections include the Leixlip/M50 Junction (to be completed by 2004); the Celbridge interchange (2002); Kilcock/Kinnegad (2005); Athlone/Ballinasloe By-Pass (2005); Ballinasloe/Oranmore (2006); and the Galway Outer By-Pass (2006).

Up to now tolls have been exempt from VAT in ireland but following an EU Court of Justice ruling VAT at 20% will be charged as and from September 1.

So how do Ireland’s roads measure up internationally? It appears that last year while Ireland in economic competitiveness terms was an excellent fifth out of 59 countries, in road infrastructure terms we rated a miserable 37th in that list.

Gerry Murphy highlighted how our infrastructure ‘is creaking’ underneath the increase in traffic on our roads. “It shows up what would happen if we don’t improve our infrastructure - we will not maintain our economic competitiveness.”

The new routes are also expected to open up development to other counties.

Mr Murphy compared the use of the private sector in various countries including France where approximately 2/3rds of the infrastructure is provided by what they call ‘delegated management’.

PPPs are not new to Ireland, he said, noting that the system has been used in canals and railways development in the 18th and 19th centuries, and more recently for Urban Renewal and developments such as the IFSC and Custom House Docks development. More relevant to motorists were the East and West Link Toll Roads bridges. “If you have the appropriate project, and is managed correctly, it will give benefits such as faster provision of infrastructure, improved value for money as well as improved quality of service”.

It was pointed out that a third of EU motorways are tolled and toll systems are also widespread in Austria, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Italy, Norway, and Portugal. Tolls are also operated in Belgium, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary and in Britain. Germany presently has its first toll road under construction and already charges lorries by way of a permit system.

The latest PPP deal in Britain is a tolled road - the Birmingham Northern Relief Road.

The NRA PPP Road Programme May 2001 involves some 250km of road with construction cost of £1.5bn. This involves the Dundalk Western Bypass, Clonee-Kells, Kilcock-Kinnegad, a second Liffey Valley Bridge, Portlaoise-Castletown, Portlaoise-Culahill, the Waterford Bypass, Fermoy Bypass, Limerick Southern Ring Road Phase 11 (a fourth river crossing), Nenagh-Limerick and the Oranmore-N6 East route.

Key features of PPP schemes include deisgn/build/finance/operate contracts; a 30-year concession period; all are hard toll schemes and maximum toll charges to be set by the NRA; alternative toll-free route available; tolls to be set at an affordable level and public subside for high-cost schemes.

The NRA men said tolls will be set at an affordable level and commercial users will be able to recoup the VAT they pay after September 1.

Speaking on the financial aspects of the new routes Mr Murphy said
in many EU counries users pay per kilometer of road used, which was not the case for Ireland. “For the 35km of new road from Kilcock to Kinnegad, the charge is below the EU level,” he said. However the middle section from Kinnegad to the Athlone- Ballinasloe Bypass will be free of charge.

Some £32m has been put by for land acquisition to accommodate the new routes. The total Kilcock-Kinnegad scheme will cost £257m and toll revenues will cover approximately 50% of the costs.

The programme for the Kilcock-Kinnegad Scheme has a possible construction start of Summer 2002, and opening date of Summer 2005.

Mr Murphy said any Consortium involved will have to maintain the road to a high standard for 27 years, post construction, and must re-invest at the end of the concession period in order to provide a further 10 years of road carriageway life. TW

Above - Gerry Murphy, NRA PPP manager; Cllr Rainsford Hendy, chairman, Kildare County Council; and Michael Egan, corposate affairs director, NRA, after their presentation to Kildare County Council this week.