11 April 2003: Newbridge & District Chamber of Commerce has cautioned the Government not to delay building proper transport infrastructure just because it wants to balance the budget.
In a statement welcoming the recent announcement of The Strategic Rail Review and the Critical Infrastructure Bill NDCC President Charles Meiklereid said the announcement is a 'well overdue acknowledgement' that the process for building major infrastructure in this country is 'far too stop-go in nature' leading to massive cost and time overruns on projects.
“Indeed, in terms of the current roads programme under the National Development Plan (NDP) 2000-’06, the Government had already conceded it would take at least a further 2-3 years beyond 2006 to complete the programme of road building set out in it," Mr Meiklereid said. "On the funding side a serious gap has emerged with the NRA estimating that E14 billion will now be required to complete the national roads programme under the NDP, as per the recent Fitzpatrick’s report, while the NDP itself only provides for E6bn.”
While commending the fact that the Strategic Rail Review not only supports the maintenance of existing services but also provides for the enhancement and expansion of the rail network, he said the chamber members are disappointed that it doesn’t mirror the ambitions of the National Spatial Strategy, especially in terms of the timescale for investment.
"It doesn’t take full regard of the pressing needs of growth centres identified in the NSS, particularly along the western seaboard. The infrastructure needs to be put in place before the business investment will follow. There is no getting away from this reality.
“The future success of the economy in County Kildare is intrinsically linked to the quality of the transportation corridors linking the county to the cities and to the sea and airports. We hope that the government does not forsake the building of a 21st century infrastructure for the sake of a short term budgetary balancing act.”
