There will be no extra cost to Castlebar Town Council following the collapse of part of a bridge under construction in the town centre.
The local authority was given this assurance yesterday by the contractors building the new Castle Street bridge, Warde and Bourke, and by RPS, the engineering consultants, for the €1.77 million development.
On January 13th, part of the new bridge subsided. The site was closed off, all work ceased and an independent investigation into the collapse got under way.
Addressing a special council meeting this week, Jerry Carty, consultant engineer with RPS, said that, as consultants, his firm had designed and successfully completed 300 bridges in Ireland in the past 10 years. The Castle Street bridge was the exception.
"We regret what happened, and we can assure elected councillors that the contract will, despite the hiccup, be completed within the agreed time scale and will not cost the local authority any additional money as we are working under a fixed contract."