Ballina IDA park goes to tender

Ballina IDA park goes to tender this week


Anna-Marie Flynn

The long-awaited IDA park in Ballina has finally moved to the next step as the development goes to tender this week – but after a ten-year wait the good news may be dampened by fears that the project will be a victim of bad timing and the Government’s recession review. 
The IDA has confirmed that the Sligo Road site, which was embroiled in a decade-long battle over land title until late last year when a resolution was reached, will now move to the tendering process.
Ballina Chamber of Commerce CEO, Sandra Cribben, said that after a meeting with Maura Skeffington and Jim Murren of the IDA last November, a commitment was made that the development of the site would go to tender in the first quarter of 2009.
Last week, Ms Cribben followed up this meeting when Jim Murren, IDA Manger for the West Region, was in Ballina, and he confirmed that the tender process would be embarked on in the coming days.
“I have been in regular contact with Jim Murren, to keep an eye on progress, and when Jim was in Ballina on Thursday, I had a short meeting with him where he confirmed that the development of the site was going to tender this week. The work has been broken into two components – the development of the civil infrastructure under one contract and the landscaping of the site under a separate contract. By doing it in this manner the tenders are being sought by selective tendering process which is a faster method than the E-tenders method for larger contracts,” said Ms Cribben.
While the Chamber welcomes the news, it hopes that work will proceed without delay. “The IDA West hope to have tenders back within a month and seek IDA board approval to carry out the works at that stage from the IDA annual budget. Ballina Chamber are delighted that the IDA site is progressing and are confident that the site will be developed in 2009, while the potential to attract inward investment is very limited at the current time, at least if the park is developed to a state-of-the-art standard with access to natural gas and all the other services now available in Ballina, we will be in a much better position when the global economy picks up to attract investors,” added Ms Cribben.
The Chamber CEO, who is also running in the Ballina Town Council elections as a Fianna Fáil candidate, said she will be discussing the matter further with local TD Dara Calleary to ensure that the funds to develop the park will be available and that they will not be touched in the April Budget.
With speculative government plans raising fears of such developments being axed, Deputy Calleary told The Mayo News that ‘every project is under review’ as part of the April 7 Budget. “I welcome this news but obviously I am very aware that everything is on the table at the moment. The reality is that all projects throughout the country are under review. That said, I will continue to push the IDA and the Tánaiste, on this issue. The Government has shown a huge commitment to the area in terms of the gas, the MANs system and other infrastructure so this is the final piece of the jigsaw for Ballina in terms of industrial development,” said the TD.