The taxpayer has been exposed to a claim for more than £10 million (€12.7 million) by the contractor for the Piltown/Fiddown bypass in Kilkenny because of what the National Roads Authority says is a disagreement between Kilkenny County Council and the contractor over the quality of earthworks material used in the construction of the 11-kilometre stretch of road.
Jons Civil Engineering Co Ltd, Duleek, Co Meath, tendered successfully to build the bypass, part of the Limerick-Waterford Improvement Scheme, in 1999. The tender amounted to just over £13 million and the contract was signed in September of that year.
The final account for the scheme, totalling over £28 million - more than double the original tender - was presented by Jons Civil Engineering Ltd to Kilkenny County Council last November.
Under a price variation clause in the contract, an amount of £2.7 million is not disputed. However, the civil engineering company is claiming £10 million, the greater part of which, according to Mr Michael Egan, director of corporate affairs with the NRA, is the result of a dispute between the contactor and the county council's team of supervisors and "quality control people".
Mr Egan said that the claim related to "alleged delay and disruption to the earthworks activity of the contractor due to differences regarding the quality of reusable materials on the site".
Mr Egan said that the claim would be vigorously contested by both the council and the NRA. He added that there were also smaller claims related to what he called certain structures which had been added to the original contract. The final account does not include the cost of the compulsory purchase orders, three of which remain to be settled. To date, CPOs and accommodation works have cost £3.5 million.
The Piltown/Fiddown bypass project has been fraught with difficulties over CPOs involving local farmers, access for residents and safety issues. One farmer, Mr Donal Norris, drove cows across the busy road twice daily for an extended period last year because of what he claimed were inadequate provisions made for him following the division of his farm by the new road.
The extent of the possible cost overrun first emerged last week at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee when Carlow/Kilkenny TD Mr John McGuinness (FF), deputy chairman of the committee, asked NRA representatives about the final cost of the project.
Mr McGuinness said that it was an extraordinary overspend for such a small project and asked what protections were in place for the taxpayer against overruns of that nature.
According to Mr Tom Gunning, Kilkenny County Council's director of services for roads, the council has valued the work on the bypass at a "top price of £16 million". He confirmed that the council would vigorously contest the £10 million claim.
Asked about the basis of the dispute between the council and the contractor, Mr Gunning said that the contractor was claiming that the material used on the project had been better than anticipated. "We felt it was good enough," he said.