Consortium chosen for Shannon tunnel

Work on the proposed Shannon tunnel moved a step closer yesterday with the National Roads Authority identifying a preferred tenderer for the project.

The Direct Route consortium is expected to sign the formal contract in September, with work to begin shortly after on the private-public partnership (PPP) project. It will be the road agency's biggest infrastructural scheme outside Dublin, involving the construction of a 900-metre (3,000 feet) tunnel under the River Shannon at Limerick.

However, the construction arm of controversial US conglomerate Halliburton has withdrawn from the plans. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Ltd (KBR) won't be playing any part in the scheme after withdrawing from the Direct Route consortium, to be replaced by Dublin firm Roughan & O'Donovan Consulting Engineers.

A spokesman for the roads agency said yesterday: "Due to the reorganisation of the corporate structure of Halliburton, KBR is no longer involved in the design element of the Shannon tunnel project." The Texas-based Halliburton conglomerate is the biggest private contractor for US forces in Iraq and has received contracts worth some $18 billion (€15 billion) for its work there.

US vice-president Dick Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton in the five years prior to becoming vice-president and Mr Cheney earned some €45 million during his tenure at the world's largest oil and gas services company.

One of the many contracts that Halliburton secured from the US government was a €37 million deal to build prison camps in Guantánamo Bay for suspected terrorists.

The NRA spokesman said the estimated €375 million cost of the Limerick scheme is based upon an estimate made in 2003. However, inflation in the construction industry could mean the eventual cost of the road will be between €425 million and €450 million.

The other companies involved in the Direct Route consortium include Austrian company Strabag AG; John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Limited, Lagan Holdings Limited and Roadbridge Ltd.

The Direct Route consortium is to receive the estimated €456 million that will be generated in tolls from the tunnel over the first 30 years of its operation. In the toll scheme adopted by the NRA for the project, motorists will be charged €1.60 to access the tunnel, while truck drivers will have to pay €5.46.

The Limerick tunnel will be only the second under-river tunnel in Ireland after the Jack Lynch tunnel in Cork.

The road will link all national routes converging on Limerick from Dublin, Tipperary, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Ennis and Shannon airport and is expected to remove 40,000 vehicles per day from Limerick city.

The compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the scheme was confirmed in August 2004 and the project will take four years to complete, although sections of the scheme may be finished before the tunnel is operational.