Roads at risk

Mayo road projects could be at risk

Warning about future of proposed infrastructure projects in Mayo, as recession takes hold

Neill O’Neill

ONE of Mayo County Council’s most senior officials has sounded a warning that the current economic slowdown could have a detrimental effect on proposed infrastructure projects in the county.
County Engineer and Director of Services, Joe Beirne, told a Roads and Transportation Strategic Policy Committee meeting last week that the National Development Plan (NDP) could be scaled back – with some of the roads proposed for Mayo put on hold as a result.
“If the NDP is scaled back because of the economic slowdown, the N5 and N26 proposals could be at risk,” he said. “There is a lot to be done on the NDP between now and 2015 and it might not all get done. The National Roads Authority’s priority is supposed to be Major Inter-Urban routes and these will happen, but the Atlantic corridor might well absorb all the rest of the west of Ireland funds.”
The N26 is the road between Bohola and Ballina, the second phase of which is due to start in 2010, while the long-awaited N5 road between Bohola and Westport is the other project that Mr Beirne feels could be at risk. The projected completion date for this project was 2015.
The comment from Mr Beirne came as no surprise to Independent councillor, Michael Holmes, who believes there are serious doubts about all sorts of infrastructural projects in the county, in light of our changed economic circumstances. Cllr Holmes, who is also Chairman of the Western Roads Action Committee, told The Mayo News that while the Government has stated that none of the major infrastructural projects in the county will be cut, he pointed out that there are no major projects currently under way in Mayo – and he fears that is how it will remain.
Cllr Holmes fears the decision to upgrade the N5 proposal from Bohola to Westport to dual-carriageway status was a delaying tactic on behalf of the NRA and the downturn in the economy will be an excuse to delay it further. He feels the upgrade of the R312 from Castlebar to Bellacorick will be sidelined too, while he has also questioned if funding will be allocated to local sewerage schemes for which the tenders have not been signed and also.
“If there is a downturn there is little we can do but the thing that annoys me is that there is no major project in Mayo and we got very little in the boom times. It is the point I have been making long before Joe Beirne or anyone else. If we can’t get anything in the boom times what chance do we have of getting it in the bad times? The good times have come and gone and, lo and behold, after ten or 12 years of a booming economy, we still have not got the vital infrastructure in either transport or sewerage in the county,” he said.
However, Ballina Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary has re-iterated his and the Government’s commitment both to the N5 and N26 projects, and he feels both projects have ‘a lot going for them’ ahead of others around the country.
“The Government have committed to this capital investment through Transport 21 and the new Minister for Finance has re-iterated his intention to follow through on this commitment. It is planned that all the major urban routes will be completed by 2010 and then funding will be released for other projects and I am firmly of the belief that the N26 will be one of those. An Bord Pleanála are hoping to release the findings of their oral hearing into the project by late July and that is now the only thing outstanding bar the release of the necessary funding.”