This article is from page 6 of the 2009-04-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THE company that built the Ennis bypass were paid €9 million more than the original contract of €123 million for the scheme.
New figures released yesterday by Clare County Council in response to a Freedom of Information request, show that GAMA Construction re- ceived €132 million for its work on the scheme.
The council confirmed that the final overall cost of the scheme was €197 million and this included land acqui- sition fees and other payments.
GAMA Construction failed to com- plete the construction of the project on time and only fully opened the route in December 2007 — eight months after the project was due to be completed.
Work continued on the scheme in 2008 on ancillary aspects of the project and last year, GAMA also commenced re-alignment work on part of the link-road near the Clare- abbey roundabout.
As part of the FOI request, the council was asked for any documents dating from September 1, 2007 relat- ing to the delay in completing the contract and the penalties imposed.
However, the council has responded to say that no such records exist.
The local authority was also asked to provide correspondence’ with GAMA on the need to carry out re- medial works on Ennis bypass near
Clareabbey.
However, the council refused ac- cess to these records under a number of provisions including the fact that documentation is commercially sen- sitive.
The council has yet to respond to emailed queries on why GAMA was paid in excess of €9 million more than the original contract price. GAMA has already told the Labour Court that it has lost €45 million on
the scheme after underestimating the cost of labour and materials.
Green Party county councillor Brian Meaney called on the council to provide a full report on the Ennis bypass and said he would be asking why penalties have not been imposed when it was provided for in the con- elem
“We all know that the bypass project was well behind schedule and the contract details with the penalties
were never revealed. Work is still on- going on the scheme and I believe the public should be told how their money was spent and why a com- pany was paid €9 million in excess of the original contract price in spite of the project not being complete on nbs stones