A member of the board overseeing Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s proposed ‘gondola’ project on the slopes of Slieve Donard has said she is “deeply sceptical” about cost estimates being quoted by the project’s backers.
Newcastle councillor Jill Truesdale said the £44m costs cited in a recent press statement on the council’s behalf were “likely outdated and not reflective of the real financial burden” that the cable car to a proposed visitor centre at Thomas’s Quarry, 250m above sea level, would place on ratepayers.
In February, The Irish News reported that the cost of the Mourne Gateway project had increased to at least £50m, according to officials from the Department of the Economy.
The council insists that despite inflation and rising construction costs, its estimated projections have not changed.
Ms Truesdale said the council’s proposed appointment of what it terms a ‘specialist gondola consultant’ just weeks after the original consultants were commissioned was “another bolt-on that will definitely add to the escalating costs”.
“The council is some way off from even submitting a planning application or gaining the consent of the National Trust, which manages the land around the proposed visitors’ centre,” she said.
She added that while construction costs projects, “such as the proposed Casement Park rebuild and Belfast’s new transport hub, have spiralled yet the council maintains that its costs haven’t increased”.
Newry, Mourne and Down Council said the cost of the specialist gondola consultant was “reflected within the overall cost estimate of circa £44m”.
The British government is providing part funding for the project as part of an overall £350m package for the Belfast Region City Deal. However, the sum pledged in October 2018 by the then chancellor Philip Hammond is not inflation linked.
According to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, the value of the £29.77m earmarked for the Mourne Gateway is now £23.5m in real terms.
Any shortfall in the final costs will be borne by ratepayers in the district.
The Alliance councillor and Mourne Gateway project board member said a recent petition opposing the gondola had received more than 3,600 signatures and that a number of groups, including Mountaineering Ireland, had criticised the plan, which is supported by a majority of her council colleagues.
“I have so many reservations about this project, in terms its cost and environmental impact, yet its backers seem to have a blind determination to make it happen in the face of growing public opposition,” Ms Truesdale said.
A statement from Newry, Mourne and Down Council said its estimates of £44m construction costs were provided by the local authority’s “professional cost consultant for the project”.
“However, there cannot be absolute certainty over the final cost at this time,” it added.
