GALWAY Corporation officials are to seek a meeting with a Belgian engineering company which has refused to give them details of a proposal to locate the city's sewage treatment plant underground.
The corporation plans a £23 million overground plant on Mutton Island in Galway Bay. An outline of the alternative proposal was submitted to the Department of the Environment earlier this year by Seghers Engineering Water NV.
But the corporation was refused access to detailed costings and plans unless it was prepared to sign a secrecy agreement. The company has indicated that it does not want competitors to get access to its plans.
When they learned of the alternative plan two months ago, Galway city councillors asked officials to seek further details.
The Fine Gael TD, Mr Padraic McCormack, said yesterday that the confidentiality difficulty needed to be overcome quickly if the city wanted to solve its sewage problems. The Save Galway Bay group has brought a High Court action seeking to prevent the plant going ahead overground on Mutton Island.
The Mayor, Mr John Mulholland (FG), said he had contacted the company on four occasions and he felt it was serious about the proposal. "If the company are as good as their plans suggest, then I think that our problems for the past 20 years could be solved."
Councillors who are still in favour of the existing proposal have, nevertheless, agreed to seek a meeting with Seghers.
