Fine Gael councillor Eugene Lavin this week bemoaned the delays that have beset the works on the Kiltimagh to Bohola road. The improvement project, which began 11 years ago, still has not been completed and, despite work being carried out on a stretch of it at present, the works will cease in the near future when the current funding allocation runs out.
Cllr Lavin raised the issue at the November meeting of the Swinford Electoral Area committee this week. “There is work taking place on the this road at the minute, but I see the funding for that work running out inside the next two weeks and we will have to shut down the site,” Paul Dolan, senior executive engineer with Mayo County Council, told the meeting. “We were allocated €250,000 this year but I see that funding running out in the next few weeks and we will have to wait and see what we get next year to do it. There was a time when we could continue the work and then bill the department for it afterwards but that day is gone now.”
Cllr Lavin told the meeting he was very disappointed with the news. “This road has been going on since 1999 and it’s extremely disappointing to hear that the road still won’t be finished,” he said. “There are a number of families who live along the road who have been very put out by the works over the past while and they will continue to be put out as it looks like this road still won’t be finished for some time.”
Mr Dolan responded to Cllr Lavin saying, “I’d just like to clarify that, while the work was started on this road in 1999, we haven’t been in the same spot for 11 years, in front of the same people’s houses for this time, we are moving section by section.”
