asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost of works to be carried out by his Department at Passage East, County Waterford in (1) the present year and (2) the coming year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Passage East (Waterford) Works.
21.
The works sanctioned for Passage East, one of the five ports selected for development as major fishery harbours, are the provision of a quay parallel with the deep-water channel of Waterford Harbour and reclamation of a large area to provide space for development of shore facilities. The order of cost is £280,000. Before construction work can be put in hands it is necessary to have engineering surveys made—including trial borings, soil sampling and hydraulic investigations—so that a detailed design of the scheme can be prepared.
A commission for the hydraulic investigations was placed in September, 1961, and experts have made a survey on the site and are at present carrying out investigations at their laboratories. A report is expected from them next month.
A contract for trial borings and soil samplings was placed with a Swedish firm on 2nd November, 1961: owing to the exploratory nature of the work it is not possible to determine in advance the precise extent of the work and therefore the completion date for the contract is uncertain but it will be several months before the results are available.
Design work cannot proceed until the results of the borings, soil sampling and hydraulic investigations are available for study.
It is expected that the expenditure in the present financial year on Passage East will be about £5,000.
I am not in a position to forecast accurately the probable expenditure for 1962/63.
I am grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for answering the Question.