Port tunnel builders to be sued over shutdowns

TWO STATE bodies have initiated moves to sue the builders of the Dublin Port Tunnel over repeated systems failures which they claim have led to frequent closures.

The decision by the National Roads Authority and Dublin City Council to take legal action followed a breakdown that caused the closure of the tunnel for most of yesterday.

This led to severe traffic congestion across the north city with journey times between the city centre and the airport taking up to 70 minutes.

The council was also forced to temporarily lift its ban on heavy goods vehicles in the city centre.

Officials from the NRA and the city council spent much of yesterday in joint consultation with legal advisers after it emerged the latest problem involved a malfunction of the tunnel's electronic systems.

Yesterday evening, with the tunnel still closed, the NRA took the decision to proceed with a legal claim for compensation against the tunnel builder, joint venture operation Nishimatsu-Mowlem-Irishenco.

In a letter to the consortium, seen by The Irish Times, the NRA said both it and the city council had been "repeatedly reassured and guaranteed that the tunnel systems would be fully fit for their intended purpose and that the installed equipment would be both durable and resilient".

But since the handover of the tunnel just over a year ago, "we have had a number of significant equipment malfunctions", the letter said.

"We put you on notice that we are taking legal action to recover all costs arising from deficiencies in the equipment that you have provided," it continued.

The letter, circulated to the Department of Transport and the council, claimed the equipment problems were "defects for which NMI (Nishimatsu-Mowlem-Irishenco) are fully responsible and accountable. Despite our efforts to have Nishimatsu-Mowlem-Irishenco remedy these issues you have failed to do so".

In a separate matter NMI is still seeking payments from the city council of up to €100 million for completion of the tunnel, a move which would put the final cost of the 4.5-km route close to €900 million. The claim is currently at arbitration.

Following the restructuring of Mowlem in recent years, its business was taken over by British company Carillion plc which is pursuing the claim on behalf of the joint venture.

A spokeswoman for Carillion plc yesterday confirmed it had taken over the business of Mowlem and was responsible for the claim for further payments.

But she said the company would not comment on a commercial matter which included legal action from a client company.

The northbound bore of the tunnel reopened at 6.40pm yesterday, more than eight hours after the facility was closed shortly before 10am.

Normal service resumed at 7.15pm when motorists were allowed access to the southbound bore.

A Garda spokesman said the city centre wide HGV ban recommenced immediately after the route reopened.