It’s emerged that the N56 Four Lane Road project cost a total of €16 million, 47% more than the pre-construction scheme budget of just under €11m.
The figures been given to Cllr Ciaran Brogan in response to a question posed to Donegal County Council.
Engineers have confirmed that Transport Infrastructure Ireland have funded the scheme in its entirety.
Engineers say the pre-construction scheme budget for the project was determined at €10.9m.
The scheme suffered delays and, the reply to Cllr Brogan says there are a number of reasons for the delays in completion and additional costs.
Engineering and environmental difficulties were encountered in respect of exceptional ground conditions and the Special Area of Conservation status of the River Swilly.
Both Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine affected contractor resources, operations and suppliers during the contract, with the war affecting supply chains, particularly in respect of steel.
Allied to that, there was exceptional global inflation which affected all materials and costs, particularly bitumen and other oil-based materials central to road works.
Engineers say all remaining construction snags and defects were closed earlier this year, enabled the final report to be completed.
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Answer in full –
N56 FOUR LANE ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENT SCHEME PROJECT OUTTURN
This summary informs the N56 Four Lane Road project construction cost, scheme budget
and project outturn.
The Contract was tendered Q3 2020 with five tenders received. The winning tender of was
accepted by Donegal County Council May 2021. RPS (now Tetra Tech) were project
designers up to tender. Barry Transportation/EGIS managed the contract works on site and
were designers during the construction stage.
The pre-construction scheme budget for the project was determined at €10.9m.
The scheme suffered delays and contractor claims were referred to conciliation in
accordance with the conditions of the contract. The delays in completion and additional
costs can be attributed to five main areas:
1. Low tendering by the Contractor being up to 31% below some other tenders.
2. Engineering and environmental difficulties in respect to exceptional ground
conditions and adjacent Special Area of Conservation (River Swilly).
3. Covid 19 affected contractor resources, operations and subcontract resources and
suppliers during the contract.
4. The War in Ukraine which occurred in the midst of the works. This significantly
affected supply chain with arising delays and impacts particularly for steel
provision.
5. Exceptional Global Inflation which affected all materials and costs particularly
bitumen and other oil-based materials central to road works.
All remaining construction snags/defects were closed earlier this year (2026), and this has
enabled this report to be completed.
The project cost outturn includes the Government Inflation/supply chain delay cooperation payment, Independent Conciliation award on claims and time, is €16m inclusive
of VAT.
There has therefore been a 47% increase from the pre-construction scheme budget of €10.9m.
Given the complexities of this contract and the large number of external factors directly
and significantly impacting both progress and costs, we believe this to be a satisfactory
outcome.
All contract costs including conciliation award have been independently audited and
assessed prior to approval. TII have funded the scheme in its entirety.
