£500m infrastructure projects in doubt as appeal delays Dublin motorway

Hopes of completing Dublin's C-ring motorway by 2003 have evaporated, placing in doubt approximately £500 million worth of infrastructural projects. among them the Dublin waste management plan, it was claimed in the Dail last week.

The final leg of the C-ring, the 11 km South Eastern Motorway between Ballinteer and Shankill in south Co Dublin, is on hold pending the outcome of a Supreme Court appeal by Jackson Way Properties. The company, which owns land adjacent to the route, is challenging the Minister's approval of the motorway as well as the constitutionality of the 1993 Planning Act.

The Fine Gael spokeswoman on traffic, Mr Olivia Mitchell, told the Dail that "literally dozens of public and private investment projects are contingent on the South Eastern Motorway being in place and will now certainly have to be postponed and perhaps lost altogether".

Calling on the Minister for the Environment to apply Strategic Development Zone status to the motorway, Ms Mitchell said the entire Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Council housing programme, the Dublin waste management strategy and the completion of "a 12,000-job business park" on the former Legionaries of Christ land at Leopardstown Road were in doubt.

However, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, told the Dail the motorway was not a suitable project for treatment as a Strategic Development Zone, which was a formula to fast-track industrial development.

Ms Mitchell has now called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to "consider the national importance of the SEM and fast-track it under the scheme promised in the overview to the national development plan." She said a planned waste-baling centre at Ballyogan, which is critical to the Dublin waste management plan proposed by all four Dublin local authorities, could not go ahead until the time-scale of the SEM was clarified.

Other projects contingent on the motorway include a network of local roads at Ballyogan and Ballinteer serving proposed public and private housing, and an access road from the SEM to the major housing and science and technology park at Cherrywood, near Loughlinstown.

Plans partially contingent on the SEM include the development of industrially zoned land at Carrickmines, private housing at Carrickmines, Stepaside and Ballyogan, and a reservation of land for a Luas extension from Stillorgan to Cabinteely.

The largest single development is the 20-acre central park development on the former Legionaries of Christ site, which includes plans for a 1.7 million sq. ft office complex and a hotel costed in the region of £500 million.

While phase one of this development contains about half of the projected value and is not being delayed, the planning permission states that phase two is dependent on the motorway being built and land being allocated for the Luas extension. Phase three is dependent on the Luas line being in place.

A spokesman for the developers said they were concerned about the delays in the SEM and added that a number of "interested clients are asking questions about the road network".

At Cherrywood, phase one of a £300 million science and technology park and housing development being undertaken by Dunloe Ewart is about to open. A spokesman said the site also had access from Loughlinstown and development was on target. He refused to comment on proposed access to the Cherrywood development from the SEM.

The Deputy County Manager of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Mr Des Taylor, said the council was extremely concerned about the delay. The council, a shareholder in the science and technology park, is keen to develop the industrially zoned lands around the SEM to broaden its commercial rates base.

"But also our plans for public and private housing are nearly all in the Ballyogan, Stepaside, Carrickmines and Sandyford areas. While they would not be designed to be using the motorway, if the other non-local traffic does not have a motorway to use, it will severely limit the capacity of the existing road network. We would have to limit the number of houses."

It is estimated that public and private housing development plans could amount to £450 million, of which half could be deleted by an inadequate road network. The cost of the SEM was estimated at £133 million more than two years ago and included the cost of the associated roads. This figure is now expected to reach £150 million.

The Irish Times understands that the Jackson Way Properties case is not listed for hearing in this law term.

The projects contingent on the south-eastern motorway being in place by 2003 include:

Phase two and three of central park, a proposed technology and business park for Leopardstown. An extension of Luas towards Cabinteely.

Value £250 million.

About half of the projected private and public housing projects at Stepaside, Ballyogan, Carrickmines and Sandyford. Value £225 million.

Lands zoned for industry in the current Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown development plan which were rezoned because of the availability of the SEM.

Estimated value £50 million.

The SEM.

Value £150 million.

The waste management strategy for Dublin is contingent on a baling station at Ballyogan. This in turn is dependent on the SEM.

The cost of the baling station and associated work is put at £4 million.