Council confident of overcoming Port Tunnel problems
Dublin City Council today declared it had full confidence in the capital’s troubled Port Tunnel, due to open in April.
After it emerged last week that half a litre of water per second was leaking into the underpass, City Manager John Fitzgerald today confronted controversial issues like leaks as well as the height, cost and damage to homes from boring.
He said he wanted to set the record straight as there had been a lot of misinformation and an inordinate amount of publicity about the €752m tunnel, which began in 2001.
“The leak looked worse than it is and made for great pictures but the reality is that it is minor,” he explained in a statement.
He pointed out it was important to realise how important the tunnel would be as a piece of transport infrastructure.
“The recent leak in the tunnel, is part and parcel of the routine issues that arise on a huge engineering project like this.”
The municipal chief insisted that rigorous testing was being carried out by engineers on a regular basis.
“Last week’s leak is being fixed and is not causing any undue safety or programme concerns. Dublin City Council has full confidence in the tunnel.”
Mr Fitzgerald also disputed the size of the cost overrun on the project.
Referring to the confusion about the price-tag for the project, he said the original €448m being quoted by critics was the construction bid cost.
It didn’t include other additional expenses like land acquisition, construction supervision, project insurance, legal fees, utilities diversions and overhead properties guarantee scheme costs.
He added: “These total to €304m, bringing the overall project budget to €752m. The final cost will not be significantly more than this figure. In effect the Dublin Port Tunnel will come in close to the current budget cost.”
He said any further contractual claims made by the contractor will be vigorously contested by the council and the National Roads Authority.
He pointed out that the Public Private Partnership form of contract, which has seen so many recent projects delivered early and within contract tender price, did not exist in December 2000, when the tunnel began.
Mr Fitzgerald also said claims of structural damage to homes in the Marino/Fairview areas were not true.
Each house above the tunnel boring machine was surveyed by the council before and after tunnelling.
“A total of 235 householders have notified the council of possible claims. The problems, though upsetting for the people concerned, were not serious in structural terms.
“A total of 124 house repairs have been completed to date. A further 111 are the subject of ongoing settlement negotiations with the property owners. Our objective is to have these claims resolved as soon as possible through the existing processes.
“It is likely that the total claims will be less than €1.5m.”
On the issue of height of the tunnel, Mr Fitzgerald said that if the council were to start designing and building the Dublin Port Tunnel again today, it would still build it to the same height.
“We could not justify recommending to Government that additional taxpayers’ money be spent, solely to meet the need of a minority of users,” he said, referring to the Super Cube lorries.
“The tunnel is in accordance with best EU standards. The clearance height is 4.9 metres height, with an operating height of 4.65 metres. More than 98% of the HGVs currently using Dublin Port will be able to use the tunnel, as will double-decker buses.
He said the tunnel is as high as most bridges in Dublin and around the country.
“Most European countries have tunnels the same size or smaller than the Dublin Port Tunnel. Only the UK and Spain have higher tunnels. The new Boston tunnels, just completed as part of the ‘Big Dig’, are lower.
“Less than 2% of trucks currently using the port will be excluded on height grounds. These ‘SuperCubes’ are too high to pass under hundreds of Irish railway bridges around the country. The Council’s HGV Strategy, now at draft stage, will see them use alternate routes, outside normal working hours.”
