If the ESB had been in charge of the Luas, the project manager would have been sacked, an economist, Mr Colm McCarthy, said yesterday.
Speaking in Galway at the annual conference of the Institution of Engineers, Mr McCarthy said the ESB had built a power plant in Spain, at a cost of €400 million. "And if they had gone over budget by 5 per cent, the project manager would have been sacked. Yet there has not yet been even a proper cost benefit analysis done on the Luas," which has gone over by at least 67 per cent and possibly by 91 per cent, he said.
Mr McCarthy said engineers should not play up "prestige" projects, such as the Dublin Port Tunnel, because such "mega projects" generally have three faults: the timetables are too optimistic; the estimated costs are too low; and the benefit levels are overstated.
He instanced the Washington and Boston "Big Dig" metros as well as the Channel Tunnel among projects which came in at least 55 per cent over budget.
"I had the opportunity to ask one of the senior engineers who delivered the Channel Tunnel how the shareholders - the banks with their own money to lose - seem to have been misled as readily as the politicians responsible for mega projects. His answer was that the shareholders and banks were also advised by engineers."
He said the Dublin Port Tunnel represents a similar cost overrun to the Dublin tram project.
"It fits the Luas pattern - late and over budget. It was also the subject of very favourable cost-benefit evaluations, and these also ignored the very substantial uncompensated disruption costs imposed during the construction of the tunnel."