The Metro North Debate

[Grumpy Jack]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

And what magically prevents them from being signed next week?

RPA waiting on govt approval - they still don't know if funding will be approved in Budget. Seem to be as much in dark now as rest of us.

I would think the same normally but someone in FF is briefing this way and it ties in with what Cowen and Coughlan said on day ABP RO ruling released.

It would seem there was an actual contract in that case, not a tender situation. In any case, it looks like there are shenanigans in the Slovakian overall PPP process.

http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/vie...nipulated.html

Certain people who should know more not sure where we stand legally of project dropped now before BAFOs are submitted. I was told 'we don't think so but we're checking it out'. Doesn't fill one with confidence - although if such legal action is a strong possibility it may influence decision to proceed for now with enabling works as it will be easier to drop project if BAFO not to govt's liking.

[Mark Gleeson]

Seems likes to a goer http://www.herald.ie/national-news/t...o-2416100.html

[Grumpy Jack]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Seems likes to a goer http://www.herald.ie/national-news/t...o-2416100.html

Just saw that. Good news.

Or maybe he's just kicking to touch for FG and Labour to take the decision after a spring election.

I'm just cyncial...

[weehamster]

I'm just cyncial...

Your not the only one. I don't trust this government at all . I'll only believe the project will go ahead when the contract has been signed.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.businessandfinance.ie/cat...sp?itemID=3224

Stalled transport projects could deliver competitiveness - Chamber
18 November 2010 9:24

Given current Exchequer constraints Transport 21 projects need to be delivered with the support of private financing, according to Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking at the Dublin Chamber’s Annual Transport 21 briefing, Dublin Chamber President, Peter Brennan expressed serious concern that 17 of the 32 Transport 21 projects in Dublin are delayed. If delivered, he argued, these would improve the competitiveness of Ireland in general and Dublin in particular.

“Despite the economic climate the more rapid delivery of Transport 21 projects needs to be prioritised as it will facilitate a more sustainable economic recovery,” said Mr Brennan. “We are concerned that the Government are not progressing any new transport projects at the moment. While it is obvious that economic conditions do not allow for the Government to make major spending, they are we understand not making any decisions on projects that could be delivered through private financing.”

Earlier this year the Department of Finance reviewed the capital expenditure programme which prioritised projects in the context of reduction in the level of capital spending. Dublin Chamber is concerned that in addition to this reduction that the capital spending is exaggerated because the review transfers certain current spending items to the capital side, such as roads maintenance.

“Ireland’s capital assets are an essential component of the competitiveness of the economy,” said Mr Brennan. “Yet Ireland remains far behind our European and OECD counterparts in terms of infrastructure provision, despite high levels of investment in recent years. These investment projects often have the added benefit of being employment rich in nature. It is important that we all recognise that the Metro North and DART Underground projects - which should be built at the same time - will alleviate capacity constraints in the Dublin rail network.”

The challenge for Government is how to fund the capital expenditure programme. Mr Brennan believes that the private sector could be used to meet most of the financing needs. “The use of private finance through the Public Private Partnership model allows the Exchequer to spread the cost of infrastructure over a longer time frame that is more in line with the usage of and benefits from the investment. Projects procured under this model are being delivered faster and ahead of schedule whilst significant long term responsibility and risks are being passed in a value for money manner across to the private sector. It is a proven procurement and funding model and more projects in our view could and should use this route.”

Mr Brennan was speaking at the Dublin Chamber’s Annual Transport 21 Briefing, which included speakers from the National Transport Authority, the Railway Procurement Agency, Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and the National Roads Authority.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rpa.ie/en/projects/metro_...inessCase.aspx

Home > English > Projects > Metro North > Build & Operation Permission > Metro North Redacted Business Case

Metro North Redacted Business Case October 2010

Metro North Redacted Business Case

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...285580700.html

Metro North manager says project has broad support
TIM O'BRIEN

THERE WAS a broad public and political consensus behind Metro North and a new government was unlikely to halt it, the project manager claimed yesterday.

Answering questions at an Engineers Ireland seminar on tunnelmaking, Rob Leech said he did not believe Metro North would become “like Lima” in Peru.

In Lima, he explained, the government had spent heavily on enabling works for new railways but the project had been suspended, with the result that people had made houses out of the viaducts.

Mr Leech also dismissed what a speaker referred to as the “Edinburgh situation”, a reference taken to mean the delivery and display of trams for a new light-rail system for that city some years before the completion of the tram line.

About €135 million has already been spent on enabling works and planning for Metro North and the Railway Procurement Agency said yesterday that €45 million had been provided for it in the Budget. This brings the total spend on Metro North to almost €200 million before the project has received Government approval.

Both Fine Gael and Labour refused to give an absolute commitment to the project yesterday, claiming such a move would be “irresponsible” before assuming office and seeing the full costs.

Simon Coveney of Fine Gael said the party would like to see the project completed, but had reservations about money being spent before a final decision.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore also refused to commit the party to the project in advance of the financial cost. A party spokesman said, however, that any money spent on “enabling works” would not be wasted as it would “still be there in five of six years time”.

Asked if uncertainty surrounding final approval and compulsory purchase orders could result in “an economic corridor from St Stephen’s Green to Swords being sterilised” for the best part of 10 years, Mr Leech said he did not think so.

Contracts for significant enabling works would be awarded early next year. “Until we sign the public-private partnership we can’t say the project will go the full way . . . but it is a note of confidence that the Government said it will support enabling works over the next year or so.”

He said the agency had met Opposition transport spokesmen and “Labour and Fine Gael were broadly supportive” of the project.

A note of caution was sounded by Tim Brick, executive director of the Irish Academy of Engineering. He warned that public consultation by way of An Bord Pleanála and environmental assessments had failed to win public support in a wide range of projects from the Shell to Sea campaign to the Dublin Port Tunnel.

As a former deputy city engineer responsible for the Dublin Port Tunnel, he said valuable experience of tunnelling and the physical work had been gained, but formalised public consultation through environmental impact statements and planning was not achieving consensus.

“Anyone who thinks building civic consensus, public relations and direct and media contact with the public are a project add-on is mistaken.”

Mr Brick said experience with the Dublin tunnel had thought him “the media obsession with controversy must be suborned and contested. If you are in the headlines, the news is usually bad and the media appetite insatiable.”

[Colm Moore]

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...r-2461176.html

Metro North still on track, says director
By Treacy Hogan

Wednesday December 15 2010

THE Metro to Dublin Airport can be bankrolled by private cash and is still on track, the project's director claimed yesterday.

Despite the restraints on finances, the Metro is still economically viable, he said.

Rob Leech, Metro North project manager, told an Engineers Ireland seminar that high-quality integrated public transport was a key feature of the most successful cities worldwide. He said there had been "some extraordinary claims that it would cost €5bn to build Metro North".

"Even at the height of the boom it would have cost far less than that," he added.

At a time of falling construction costs they expected to get unprecedented value.

Metro North was being developed under a public private partnership arrangement. This means the private sector initially funds the majority of the costs.

The State contributes in two ways -- a part contribution to the construction cost and later annual payments, spread over a long period of time, payable only when the metro is running.

John Power, Engineers Ireland director general, predicted Metro North had the potential to create 4,000 direct jobs and a further 2,000 indirect jobs.

- Treacy Hogan

Irish Independent

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...292062251.html

Further delays to Metro North 'not an option'
CARL O'BRIEN

FURTHER DELAYS to Metro North in Dublin are “not an option” and could undermine the State’s ability to seek investors for other major infrastructure projects, according to unpublished Government briefing material.

Officials at the Department of Transport say the options facing the Government are to either scrap the proposed 18km rail link from St Stephen’s Green to Swords or proceed quickly with enabling works.

They say the two bidders involved in the procurement process for the planned Metro have invested significant sums of money in keeping their teams mobilised.

“If the project does not proceed based on this competition it is highly unlikely that bidders with the requisite skills would invest the substantial sums required to put another bid together,” the briefing material states.

“This could also have a serious impact on the credibility of the Government as a counter-party for PPP [public-private partnership] deals for other major infrastructure investment projects.”

Fine Gael and Labour’s programme for government does give a firm commitment to funding Metro North, but it pledges to support high-capacity commuter services subject to cost-benefit analysis.

The full extent of the exchequer budget for the project has not been disclosed as officials say the figures are commercially sensitive. Well-placed sources, however, say it would be in the region of €3 billion.

The latest estimates on the business case for the Metro, prepared by the Railway Procurement Agency, estimate it would yield €2 in economic benefits for every €1 spent on its construction.

Officials also estimate that it could create about 4,000 construction jobs, as well as 2,000 other posts linked to the project during the construction period.

Records indicate the State has already spent about €135 million on planning, diverting utilities and works on heritage for Metro North.

A further €45 million is expected to be spent on similar works this year, according to records released under the Freedom of Information Act.

This brings the total spend on Metro North to almost €175 million before the project has received formal Government approval.

While the Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition agreed an undisclosed budget for the project in January 2008, it will fall to the new Government to confirm whether it intends to proceed with the project.

Last Mayr the board of the European Investment Bank approved a loan of up to €500 million for Metro North.

Two consortiums have been short-listed to build the Metro.

Some commentators have advocated scrapping Metro North and focusing on the proposed Dart Underground scheme on the basis that it would be cheaper, benefit more passengers and yield a greater economic return.

This project involves a tunnel linking the Docklands and Inchicore which would provide underground stations in the city and link existing rail systems such as the Luas and Inter-city trains.

In unpublished records, department officials say a straight comparison between Metro and the Dart Underground are difficult as they have different objectives.

They state, however, that the Metro plans are at a much more advanced stage, while the Dart Underground could take another 12 months for planning approval.

Given the pressure on the public finances, the previous government announced last year that it would not be possible to fund the Dart project in the near future.