Housing Minister Finneran announces Limerick Regeneration to press ahead http://bit.ly/91nDqx, totalling about €336m being devoted to various projects.
However, the first item in the budget http://bit.ly/cb7tP8 is a ring road with a cost of €43m for the Coonagh to Knockalisheen Distributor Road (which is a strategic road for the city), the next item is €7m for an Access Road from the Southern Ring Road (ramps etc.) and then €5m for Childers Road (part of a €10m road project). So thats €55m down on roads - good start for a regeneration project! Enabling works + demolition come to €41.6m. And theres another €10m for land purchases. So a figure of €230m up to Dec 2014 (approx. €58m pa) is a slightly more honest figure. But still a hell of a lot of money. Probably enough to build around 2,500 to 3,000 residential units. They're building/refurbishing something of the order of 735 to 800. But they are building schools & community facilities. A civic hub grouping of buildings is put at €32m
The road building is Dept. of Transport funded, & nothing to do with the regen project, but the job creation, and economic benefit (tax income etc) of building these roads is included in the overall economic analysis. Funding of €6.5m for a sports facility includes PPP and 'scope for philanthropic' contributions. The figures are misleading.
Not sure how CEO Brendan Kenny considers this will be a catalyst for Limerick City and Region, and create a Green Economic Hub. This is a project that does not invest in Limerick city, but seeks to maintain segregated suburbs. It doesn't bring any new population into Limerick city. It builds a ring-road that helps the suburbanites drive around the city. Its re-engineering the social engineering.
The Masterplan for the regeneration of the Limerick periphery doesn't address the obvious. Why are we doing this? The suburbs failed in these situations. Are profesional egos so great to keep experimenting to try and get it right this time around? The current economic depression is an opportunity to shelve the masterplan, and invest the money in the city, supporting its mix of uses, plurality of tenures and economic profiles, and support a truly green city based on sustainable transport.
ARe we not allowed to be critical of this, as its all proosed under the label of regeneration?
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