Gort to Tuam motorway plans stuck in the slow lane

Any prospect of the Gort to Tuam motorway starting by the end of the year have been dashed with the confirmation that the contract with the preferred tenderer has still not been signed.

And it has been confirmed by the National Roads Authority that the contract for the €550 million project will not be signed until the end of the year when an announcement will then be made regarding a schedule of works.

It had been hoped that the construction of the 57 kilometre motorway would commence before the end of the year but this is not likely to happen.

Earlier this year the Government announced a €20 million allocation towards the motorway which is being constructed on a public private partnership arrangement.

The motorway will be constructed by the consortium known as Direct Route which is made up of a number of Irish companies including Lagan, Roadbridge and Sisk along with international companies including KBR and Strabag. Bank of Scotland is also involved in the consortium.

But it has been learned that no contracts have yet been signed and the National Roads Authority told The Connacht Tribune that this process would not take place until the end of the year at the earliest.

Sean O’Neill, Head of Communications with the National Roads Authority said that a preferred tender had been selected and believed that there would be a major announcement before the end of the year.

He confirmed that no contract for the works had been signed as yet so it is very unlikely that construction on the project will commence before the end of 2013 – as had been envisaged earlier in the year.

Read the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune