This article is from page 4 of the 2014-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CONTRACTS to begin construction work the M18 motorway, which will provide a completed motorway between Ennis and Galway, will not be signed this week, despite repor ts circulated to the contrary.
This is the latest in a series of false starts for the completion of the motorway, which is expected to create as many as 2, 000 jobs in direct and indirect employment during the construction phase.
The motorway has for some time been heralded as a possible saviour for construction in the county with a number of the county’s smaller sub-contractors expected to tender for valuable contracts once the proposal receives the green light.
It is also expected that the motorway, when completed, will provide significant advantages for Shannon Ai rpor t, opening up the market for tourists to use Shannon as their destination air port for visiting Connemara in the closure of all commercial flights out of Galway Air port.
A spokesperson from the National Roads Authority (NRA) told The Clare People yesterday that contrary to recent reports, contracts for the € 550 million motorway extension were not to be signed this week.
This is another delay in a series of delays which have plagued the motorway since it was signalled that it would go ahead in this year. Indeed, when the announcement of the completion of the motorway was made last October, it was envisioned that constr uction work would already be underway on the motorway at this stage.
It is still expected that, providing contracts are signed in the next number of months, that the motorway will be up and running before the end of 2017. It is not yet clear what issues are preventing contracts from being signed for the completion of the motorway.
The NRA are understood to be in ongoing negotiations with the prefer red bidder, but the identity of the prefer red bidder has not yet been made public.