Rising cost slows road repairs

FINE GAEL is to ask the Comptroller and Auditor to examine the spiralling cost of repairing rutted and potholed roads.

Figures compiled by The Irish Times show that the length of local roads being resurfaced has fallen 20 per cent from 5,394km in 2004, to 4,334km last year. The reason for the decline is that Government funding for repairs has failed to match the rising costs.

While the cost of resurfacing a kilometre of road has risen 83 per cent from €10,178 in 2004 to over €18,680 last year, funding has not kept pace over the period.

Four years ago the Government allocated €54.9 million for the upkeep and repair of local and regional roads and had increased this to €81 million last year. However, this increase is far less than the increase in repair costs.

The Department of Transport accepts that rising material costs has led to fewer roads being repaired, saying the main reason for this was because of the increase in the price of oil. Bitumen, the black tar-like material used in resurfacing, is petroleum-based and its cost accounts for 60 per cent of the repair costs.

A spokeswoman for the Department said bitumen had increased sharply in line with rising oil prices since 2007 and was now 70 per cent more expensive than in 2004.

However, Fine Gael deputy Damian English has called this into question. “I don’t accept their reasoning, and I will be writing to the CAG to ask him to investigate this. What this shows is that the tax payer is paying more and getting a lot less and the Government is not ensuring value for money.”

He said the Government’s style of just announcing the amount to be spent, rather than the end result, mitigated against ensuring value for money.

A second factor behind the cost increase is that the type of material used for resurfacing local roads was changed in 2004 to a harder-wearing material to cope with higher traffic. This material added another 10 per cent to the cost of repairs.