Civil engineering partnership Roadbridge Sisk has won a €240 million contract from the State to build a section of the Cork-Dublin motorway.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) recently awarded the contract for the 32 km Cashel-Mitchelstown stretch of the route to the partnership.
The project will be the first in the State to be managed using an early contractor involvement (ECI) system. This involves the contractor coming on board at an early stage and managing the design and planning elements of the route in conjunction with the local authority, which in this case is South Tipperary County Council.
Mr Tom Costelloe, managing director, John Sisk & Son, said yesterday that ECI was already a feature of project management in the UK. "With ECI, we control the design and we get involved at a much earlier stage in the process," he explained. "We manage the whole process in conjunction with the local authority.
Mr Costelloe added that, under the system, Roadbridge Sisk had to set a target price for the project at an early stage and work within that figure.
One of the advantages of getting contractors involved at an early stage in infrastructure project was that it lowered the risk of them running into unexpected difficulties, which in turn lead to cost over-runs, he said.
The NRA and other agencies have endured criticism when the major developments have run over budget.
The Cork-Dublin road is earmarked under the National Development Plan (NDP) for upgrading to motorway and "high-quality" dual carriageway standard.
Construction is due to begin in early 2006 and scheduled to be completed three years later. The main element of the work will be on the N8 Cork-Dublin route.
But the project will also include a proposed eastern bypass of Cahir, Co Tipperary, which is part of the N24 Limerick-Waterford link.
Roadbridge Sisk is a partnership between two civil engineering and building specialists John Sisk & Son and Co Limerick-based Roadbridge Ltd.
The pair have worked together on a number of road-building projects, including the high-profile Boyne Bridge on the Belfast-Dublin road.
