Sir, - The NRA published the draft toll scheme for the Fermoy-Rathcormack bypass in Co Cork recently. Cork County Council rejected it unanimously at a meeting on July 9th.
It makes for some very interesting reading. The bypass will cost £116 million, up from £63 million in June 2000. Toll revenues in the first year of operation, 2005, are estimated to be £10.9 million. Allowing for a modest 4 per cent annual increase in traffic and 4 per cent annual inflation, the toll revenues for the 30-year concession period to a toll company will be £1.23 billion. We will end up paying £1.23 billion for a £116 million bypass, almost 11 times over. If these figures are repeated over the other 10 toll schemes throughout the country, the £1 billion private sector contribution to roads, as part of the PPP, will cost the Irish people very dearly indeed. - Yours, etc.,
Donal O'Lochlainn, St James's Place, Fermoy, Co Cork.