Narrow Water Bridge - Yes or No

[All of a Sludden]

The same Mr Kennedy has just been on the BBC news at the opening of a new road in Fermanagh. He had to provide an extra £3m to have it ready for the G8 summit, I am sure he thinks it was value for money. Hopefully he will have the same view on the Narrow Water bridge.

[ardal]

Can't we have a poll for the name of the new bridge.

I favour:

"18 and Montbatten, feck 1690, I want a replay, reaching across the divide" bridge

[Lecale2]

Plans to build the bridge were shelved today. Tenders came in much higher than expected.

[dec]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23246878

"On Tuesday, Louth County Council said tenders it had received from construction companies for the project had ranged from 26m euros (£22.4m) to 40m euros (£34.5m).

"Having examined all of the tenders received from contractors competing to build the bridge, it is clear that their estimates of the cost of construction are considerably higher than the figures we have been working with to date," the council said in a statement. "

So where did their original numbers come from. Did they get any quotes from contractors before putting the plan together?

[Applesisapples]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23246878

"On Tuesday, Louth County Council said tenders it had received from construction companies for the project had ranged from 26m euros (£22.4m) to 40m euros (£34.5m).

"Having examined all of the tenders received from contractors competing to build the bridge, it is clear that their estimates of the cost of construction are considerably higher than the figures we have been working with to date," the council said in a statement. "

So where did their original numbers come from. Did they get any quotes from contractors before putting the plan together?

Picked them out of their arses, I'd guess!

[Lecale2]

On any building project you would normally get an estimate of costs from a surveyor or architect.

[All of a Sludden]

FFS.

Incidentally a planning application for a ferry service between Greencastle and Greenore was recently submitted to Louth Co. Co.

[T Fearon]

Who quoted for the construction work,RedSky?

[Lecale2]

http://destinationnewry.com/videos/margaret-ritchie-responds-to-the-narrow-water-bridge-postponement/

Local MP calls "summit" to find the millions needed to complete the funding package.

[thewobbler]

Can anyone from a construction or engineering background explain why it costs £20m+ to put a bridge across such a narrow stretch of water? It's flat ground, no rezoning is required, the water is hardly deep or choppy.

I don't know my arse from my elbow here but there's no way every chasm in America would have got a road built over it if that's the going rate.

[armaghniac]

I'd say a less fancy bridge could be built within budget.

[Lecale2]

I'd say a less fancy bridge could be built within budget.

Maybe but that's not wnat they have all the approvals for.

[All of a Sludden]

I don't know my arse from my elbow here but there's no way every chasm in America would have got a road built over it if that's the going rate.

In America they have a "can do" attitude where as here we have to have meeting after meeting about the square root of feck all. The planning process cost a few hundred thousand alone, that was for Louth Co Co to grant themselves planning permission.

Too many snouts in the trough.

[Tony Baloney]

15 million on consultation, backhanders, bureaucracy and 5 mill on construction.

[The Subbie]

Can anyone from a construction or engineering background explain why it costs £20m+ to put a bridge across such a narrow stretch of water? It's flat ground, no rezoning is required, the water is hardly deep or choppy.

I don't know my arse from my elbow here but there's no way every chasm in America would have got a road built over it if that's the going rate.

Im a Construction Manager for a large infrastructure construction company so I'll give it a go Wobbler

Firstly I'd imagine that this is a Design and construct contract, which means the client says theres the site,go and do all the necessary site investigations ( geotechnical,environmental, heritage etc etc) get something designed that meets current standards and bring it back to us, we'll give the OK ,you build it, we'll pay you, job done.

However in the real world its not that simple, when the real world involves dealing with two separate bodies of government and their faceless bureaucrats and technocrats then the cost will explode.

The undoubted delays that the double pronged technocrats will cause would have to be costed into any estimate, the undoubted associated environmental and heritage issues that will develop and thus cause delays will have to be costed into any estimate.

When the delays caused by technocrats,environmentalists, heritage  etc are overcome the next problem is to get the actual design of the bridge and approach roads approved by each local authority in turn, more delays on the horizon, delays = money that has to be costed into any estimate.
Essentially its the land of a thousand stakeholders, nothing will move quickly, the contractor is stuck at the bottom trying to deal with this bureaucratic nightmare and must protect his interests, contractors are after all, simply there to make profit.

Contracting is in its essence all about managing risk, forget about health and safety risks, this is pounds shillings and pence risk pure and simple. The way you manage that risk is to allow a suitable number of pounds shillings and pence in your tender to cover the risk that the multiple stakeholders delay your works.

A good question to ask the contractors that priced the job would be how much money they have in their risk pot, they will never tell you of course but i would imagine its a good whack