THE Port of Cork and other local bodies are to lobby the Government and Brussels to abandon plans for the western are road linking Limerick to Rosslare and bypassing Cork city.
Instead they want the road via Cork improved further which they say, will save more than Pounds 60 million at a time when European funding may be reduced.
Cork, together with Rosslare/Waterford and Dublin ports are the three designated ports for Britain and the Continent. At present much of the west of Ireland exports, especially for Britain, leave from Rosslare and Waterford with a choice of a poor road across country or a national primary route via Cork, which is about 50 miles longer.
The proposed new road via Cashel, at a cost of Pounds 130 million, is dependent on getting funding from Brussels in the next round post 1999. The chairman of the Port of Cork Company, Mr Frank Boland, said the new roadway would divert traffic from Cork towards the south east. They had less than 18 months to convince Government to abandon this plan and instead concentrate on further improvements to the Cork route.
"This would be a far more cost-effective solution especially at a time of uncertainty regarding the extent of European Structural Funds post 1999," he said yesterday. He denied this would unfairly divert all container traffic from the west of Ireland to Cork and said that since Waterford and Rosslare had shorter crossing times to Britain, they would be well able to continue to compete.
"From a national and regional perspective there are considerable economic advantages in improving road access between some of the country's major cities. Exporters from the west of Ireland would also benefit from shorter journey times to the Port of Cork with its efficient, high- frequency container and car ferry services to British and Continental ports," Mr Boland said.
An additional Pounds 50 million, over the money already committed, would bring the Limerick-Cork-Rosslare route up to a first-class standard. The saving was also relevant in the context of a suggestion being considered by Government to reduce EU funding for ports in favour of roads, said Mr Boland.
The Cork lobby believes the head of the department responsible for regional policies, Mr Espen Poulsen, is sympathetic to their case as he told the Cork Chamber of Commerce seminar earlier this year that their views on the alternative western corridor were both "pertinent and interesting".
There has been a long-running battle between the Cork and south east ports and it was felt in some circles in Cork that their "political clout" was responsible for their favourable treatment over a long period of time. Another contentious issue was the fact that Cork's Ringaskiddy free port was not allowed to offer the usual free port incentives to potential investors.
At first the port authorities were told it would be unfair to other ports and then that they were not allowed by Brussels to extend the number of freeport areas in the country. However, then came the announcement last year that industry locating on land adjoining Cork and other regional airports would benefit from preferential tax regime.
Mr Boland said they hoped this development would strengthen Ringaskiddy's claim for similar incentives, which they were also lobbying for at present. Total throughput this year to date has grown by 7 per cent to 3.35 million tonnes over the first five - months, while container traffic has increased by 19 per cent.
