This article is from page 62 of the 2005-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 62 JPG
THE construction arm of controversial US multi- national, Halliburton is set to scoop the contract to construct the €370 million Shannon tunnel.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) has iden- tified the “Direct Route” consortium, including Kellogg Brown & Root Limited as “the most eco- nomically advantageous tender” to complete the project.
As the construction subsidiary of Halliburton, KBR employs 64,000 people in 43 countries around the world and it is part of the same “Direct Route” consortium that has won the contract to construct the N8 Rathcormac-Fermoy bypass.
The other companies involved in Direct Route in- clude the Austrian company, Strabag AG involved in the Ennis by-pass; John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Limited, Lagan Holdings Limited and Roadbridge Ltd. The Texas-based Halliburton conglomerate is the biggest private contractor for American forces in Iraq and has received contracts worth some elev- en billion dollars for its work there.
US vice-President, Dick Cheney was chief execu-
tive of Halliburton in the five years immediately prior to becoming Vice President and Mr Cheney earned €45 million during his tenure at the world’s largest oil-and-gas-services company.
One of the many contracts that Halliburton has se- cured from the US Government is the €37 million deal to build prison camps in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay for suspected terrorists — the company has had more than 35 of its contractors killed while work- ing in Iraq.
The NRA is to now proceed with discussions with Direct Route with a view to appointing it as the Provisional Preferred Tenderer. If such discus- sions prove successful and Direct Route are ap- pointed Provisional Preferred Tender, that is likely to lead to an award of the Contract for the Project in Spring 2006 with work expected to start around the same time. As part of the deal, the Direct Route consortium stands to generate €456 million in tolls from the route over a 30-year period.
The Direct Route consortium is also one of four pre-qualifying consortia for the controversial M3 Motorway, which skirts and the Hull of Tara.