State revenue from public/private road tolls is predicted to drop this year, resulting in costs of €5.5 million for toll operators - a cost that will be borne by taxpayers. The announcement was made by chief executive of the National Roads Authority (NRA) Fred Barry who was speaking at an Oireachtas Public Accounts committee.
The €5.5 million costs will be paid to the two road schemes that the State subsidises - the €1 billion M3 motorway in Co Meath and the €600m Limerick tunnel. The costs associated with other poorly performing toll roads like the Waterford toll road will be "borne entirely by the PPP company involved." The drop in revenue is down to a reduced vehicle numbers on the PPP network, a factor which Mr. Barry attributed to the economic downturn.
Mr Barry said in the early days of PPP projects the private sector could be persuaded to take the whole risk in relation to traffic volumes, but as schemes became more complex road builders "took the first tranche of risk and we took a risk after that". He said in the current climate no road builder was prepared to take any risk on traffic volumes.
It is not all bad news however as the figures do not include revenue for the M50, Dublin Port Tunnel or East Link Bridge. As these projects are either wholly state owned or built in partnership with Dublin City Council, their figures are calculated separately from PPP roads. Mr. Barry said the M50 had seen continued growth despite the economic downturn and was now entirely funded from toll revenue.