Spanish firm offers to build motorway from Gort to Tuam

Date Published: 11-May-2011

By Declan Tierney

The much delayed Gort to Tuam motorway has been thrown a lifeline – a Spanish based consortium has approached the National Roads Authority expressing an interest in constructing the 57 kilometre stretch and work could commence by the end of the year.

It has been learned by The Connacht Tribune that it is the same building company that built the M6 motorway from Galway to Ballinasloe which was opened in early 2010.

FCC Construction, which has its base in Madrid, have written to the National Roads Authority expressing an interest in constructing the M17/M18 motorway along with the Tuam bypass.

Last autumn the NRA announced that the consortium of BAM Beatty Balfour were the preferred consortium to construct the motorway from Gort to Tuam but it emerged that finance became a major issue and the signing of contracts was delayed on no fewer than six occasions.

It is understood that the financial backers were ‘jittery’ about investing in a country with a sovereign debt and were worried about being paid back for the project over a 20 year period.

The National Roads Authority then spoke to two other consortia who had tendered for the project, which will cost in the region of €500 million. But both of these are understood to have difficulty raising the finance for the project.

Much to the relief of the NRA, they received correspondence from FCC Construction offering to build the motorway – this company has made €1 billion in profits over the past year from lucrative capital projects across Europe.

But before any contracts can be signed with FCC, the NRA must put the M17/M18 motorway project out to tender again and seek expressions of interest from construction companies. In the current economic climate, the Spanish company are likely to be the only respondents.

.Already, the Government has spent in the region of €120 million on the motorway project, with the vast majority of this going on the compulsory acquisition of lands along the route.

Read more in today’s Connacht Tribune