The roads programme in the National Development Plan (NDP)would be effectively stalled next year if the capital allocation of €1 billion was not increased radically in the Budget, it has emerged.
Informed individuals believe the €1 billion available for roads will be enough to finish only the 26 projects under way since 2001.
There were no new starts this year and the funding crunch suggests there may be no new starts in 2003 if the roads allocation is not increased in the Budget.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, will publish the Budget Estimates next week. With the latest figures indicating that the Government deficit could rise to more than €1 billion by the end of the year, he will be constrained as to how funds are allocated.
However, the scale of the roads programme is such that an additional €300 million might be required to start even a few road projects next year, with up to €500 million needed to begin the projects already approved for construction.
Such money would have to be raised through borrowing, although those framing the Budget are keen to avoid coming near or breaching the EU stability pact, which obliges ministers to restrict the general government deficit to 3 per cent of GDP.
In addition, two informed figures said there was concern about fuelling inflation in the construction sector through excessive borrowing for road-building.
Despite these worries, the Economic and Social Research Institute said in a recent Budget Perspectives paper that "contemporary pressures" should not detract from the development plan.
"Too often in the past, the stop-go nature of budgetary arithmetic has postponed necessary public investment," it said.
But a "lull" in the plan is likely if funding is not increased. In this scenario, the projects likely to be postponed in 2003 include those originally scheduled to begin this year.
The 26 projects under way include the Drogheda bypass, the Dublin Port Tunnel and the south-western link of the M50 ringroad in Dublin.
About 15 projects had full planning approval to begin this year but they never got off the starting blocks due to the funding squeeze. They include the Sligo inner-relief road, and by-pass projects in Ennis, Monasterevin and Cashel. Other projects with statutory approval include the Dundalk western bypass.
Projects scheduled to begin next year include the Waterford by-pass and the Kilcock-Kinnegad route, which is a public-private partnership.
It is understood that two contenders have submitted final bids for the contract. They are the Eurolink consortium, including the Irish firm SIAC and the Spanish group Sintra; and the Erin Route group, comprising the British groups Carillion, Balfour Beaty and WS Atkins, and the French group Aegis.
Public-private partnerships were designed to provide a fillip to the NDP but, almost three years into the plan, the Kilcock-Kinnegad initiative will be the first road project to reach the construction phase on a public-private partnership basis.
