A5 could go millions over budget
02 March 2012
TUV Leader Jim Allister has questioned if the £330m figure announced for the A5 project is accurate.
This follows confirmation to the MLA by the DRD Minister that though contractual agreements exist with two contractors, there is no contract price included in either. In fact, ‘target costs’ will be agreed in advance of construction, but there will be no definitive contract price to which the contractors can be held.
Commenting on the Assembly Answer received from the Minister, Jim Allister said, “I find it astounding that in such huge commitments of public funds there is no protection for the taxpayer in the form of a fixed and known contract price. At best there will be aspirational targets, leaving the taxpayer at the mercy of rising costs and leaving the £330m looking very much like a guess, not an actual reliable figure.
“This is no way to spend public money. Such an open cheque approach may suit the contractors, but it is no comfort for the paying public.
“The more I see and hear about the A5 project, the more I am appalled with how it is being handled.”
This is the Q & A referred to by Mr Allister:-
Question:
To ask the Minister for Regional Development, in light of the statement by the Minister of Finance and Personnel in the Assembly on 14 February 2012, that contractors had already been appointed to build two sections of the A5 dual carriageway (i) who has been appointed: (ii) when they were appointed; and (iii) what is the contract price.
Answer:
My Department’s Roads Service has advised that following completion of a 2 stage tender process in December 2009, contractors were appointed to the three sections of the proposed A5 dual carriageway project. Through this Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) type agreement, contractors were initially appointed to provide advice on construction related issues during the design stage and the Public Inquiry process. However, the construction phase of the contracts will not commence until completion of the statutory orders process, approval of the business case and conclusion of necessary administrative/legal procedures. Accordingly, there is no contract price in an ECI type contract as scheme specific target costs are agreed in advance of construction.
The contractors appointed to the two sections are as follows:
New Buildings to Strabane – Balfour Beatty / BAM / FP McCann
Omagh to Ballygawley – Graham / Farrans
