Fred Barry, CEO at the National Roads Authority tells David Labanyi that the cost over-runs on infrastructure projects are now historical issues
Fred Barry, chief executive of the National Roads Authority, pauses before stretching out his arms searching for a way to describe the scale of road-building planned in the State this year.
"It's like building a road from Dublin to London, about 500 kms under construction. There has never been anything on this scale in the country. As these roads come on stream the transformation is going to be immense."
For the NRA, 2006 is shaping up to be a busy year. Aside from the national roads programme, it is negotiating the purchase of the West-Link from National Toll Roads and the Dublin Port Tunnel is due to open in the next few months.
With so many projects and vast sums being spent Mr Barry is keen to point out that the failings that led to cost over-runs on many previous projects have been addressed.
"We had 10 major projects finished in 2005 with a total budget of over €1 billion and they came in collectively under budget and on time. The cost over-runs are historical problems," Mr Barry said.
"In this century we are clearly getting the budgets right and delivering against them. Take the Dublin Port Tunnel out of the picture, and I am pretty confident that our projects for 2006 will be collectively finished below budget."
The Dublin Port Tunnel contractors, a consortium of Mowlem, Nishimatsu and Irishenco (MNI) have submitted a claim for approximately €400 million over and above the €750 million price agreed by the Dublin City Council and the NRA. This is already far in excess of the estimated cost of €448 million agreed when the contract was awarded in 2000.
"The cost over-runs relating to the leaks and other quality control issues will be met in their entirety by the contractor. The contractor has other claims where we have very different views."
The construction contract for the tunnel contains an arbitration provision in the event of disagreement over costs and Mr Barry admits this mechanism is likely to be used.
"The leak stories, if they didn't affect public perception, would be pretty funny. What people don't seem to understand is that we are building a tunnel underwater.
"There is up to 30 metres of ground water over the tunnel in places. In crude civil engineering terms, the technique is to build the tunnel, find the leaks and plug them.
"I would have a totally different attitude to it if we had declared the tunnel built and had then found the leaks."
However, one area where there has been little progress is the time taken for the courts to hear a judicial review on road projects. "I think the process we have, where people can take judicial reviews to make sure people like ourselves do what we are supposed to do, is a great system.
"But if you go for a judicial review it can take years. Take the example of Tara: it was referred to the courts last summer, is being heard at the moment and assuming the decision is appealed, it could be the end of the year before we get a decision from the Supreme Court.
"This delays completion of the project and increases the cost.
"We should be able to get in and out of the courts system in a month. I don't think the infrastructure bill deals with the courts issue. Perhaps we should look at the example of the commercial courts?."
As part of the current road building programme the NRA plans to raise approximately €2 billion from the private sector, which inevitably means more tolls.
Mr Barry agrees Irish motorists are strongly opposed to tolling. "I think tolling could become problematic if there was too much. But I think the tolling that is going to take place in Ireland is modest by European standards."
He uses the example of the recent opening of the M1 as an example of the commercial sector's approach to tolling. "When a road opens there is a move to get the tolls removed or reduced and there were boycotts of the M1. Now, a year later, usage levels are over projections. Commercial drivers are voting with their wallets."
He said a different rationale applied to the tolls for the Port Tunnel where the maximum toll has been set at €12 as a traffic management exercise. "All commercial traffic is untolled because we want them to use the tunnel and get out of the city."
This leaves some capacity for private traffic. Mr Barry said the toll could be adjusted to encourage optimum usage of the tunnel.
The role of the NRA is also adjusting. It is handing over its research function to the soon-to-be-established Road Safety Authority and is beefing up its expertise, adding a planning expert and strengthening its land acquisition department.
"I'm not sure it is appreciated just how much is spent on land acquisition. Last year it was €250 million [a quarter of the €1 billion spent on roads].
"We cannot acquire the land before An Bord Pleanála signs off on the route, and the mere fact that a road is now going into an area increases the value of the land."
The result is the NRA pays anything from 10 to 35 per cent over and above the market price.Despite steep land costs, Mr Barry does not foresee a return of the construction inflation of five to six years ago, which saw construction costs rise rapidly.
"We are very happy with the competitiveness of the bids we are getting at the moment. The Irish contractors have developed capacity and there are now international firms here."
After an appalling start to the year in terms of road deaths Mr Barry said the NRA is close to completing all the measures assigned to it under the Road Safety Strategy.
The NRA is also continuing to use crash data to pinpoint dangerous sections of road which require remedial work.
"We have also started the two-plus-one road design which I think is going to have a huge impact on road safety on primary roads by giving a barrier separation between both sides of the road."
The NRA is studying the results of a pilot two-plus-one scheme in Mallow before rolling this out nationwide.
"The scale of what is being done on the roads is starting to have some national effect and over the next few years the enormity of it will become clearer."