N17 N18 Gort to Tuam Scheme

N17 N18 Gort Tuam PPP scheme - important Press announcement

Minister for Transport Mr Noel Dempsey T.D. today announced that the preferred tender has been selected for the M17/M18 Gort to Tuam PPP Motorway. The National Roads Authority has confirmed that the BAM Balfour Beatty Consortium is the preferred bidder and they are expected to finalise project acceptance in the coming weeks with construction to commence early in the new year. It is expected that work will begin early 2011 and be completed by the end of 2014.

The N18 Oranmore to Gort Scheme has been combined with the M17 Galway to Tuam Scheme and the N17 Tuam Bypass scheme into one large scheme 57 kilometres long, known as the N17 N18 Gort Tuam PPP scheme. This scheme will be progressed as a PPP scheme, whereby the scheme will be constructed and maintained with mostly private finance . The scheme is currently at tender stage. It was anticipated that the contract for the scheme would be awarded towards the end of 2010. However difficulties have been encountered in the tendering process. The tender process for the N17 N18 Gort Tuam PPP scheme is being managed by the National Roads Authority, who have issued the following statement:

The N17 N18 Gort to Tuam road is being tendered as a Public Private Partnership and is reliant on private sector funding for the construction and operation costs which are repaid over the period of the contract. The National Roads Authority have informed Galway County Council that the Preferred bidder for the N17 N18 Gort Tuam scheme has been unable to complete the tendering process. This has arisen as tenderers are currently experiencing difficulty in securing suitable funding as a result of concerns about Ireland's sovereign debt.

The NRA have confirmed their ongoing commitment to the project and are currently examining all available options in relation to the tender process. As things stand it is not possible to put a date on the construction start except to say that it is unlikely to be much before year end at best.

Further details on the scheme can be found on the NRA website at the following link

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/SecondPPPRoadsProgramme/