I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to attend today. I am glad to be part of the delegation of the six councils that have come together in collaboration to ensure we advocate for and help, as much as possible, to bring about the construction of the piece of infrastructure we are discussing today, which will effectively link the north west with the south east and vice versa. In the interests of being brief, I intend to cover four broad headings, namely, a quick reminder of the needs, an acknowledgment of the potential that exists in the region and all parts along the way, some discussion around the practicalities we all have to face in trying to achieve this task and, finally, some requests in areas where we feel members can help us into the future.
They say a picture tells a thousand words. Members have a hard copy of the presentation in front of them and I draw attention to the figure shown. If members follow the colour codings, solid blue and solid green lines depict motorway or high-level dual carriageway. At a glance, this tell us that above a line running approximately from Ballina through Longford and Cavan and then back up to Coleraine, an entire region is without a motorway or high-level dual carriageway. Some 500,000 people live in a subset of that region, stretching from Sligo through Cavan and up to Coleraine, which means a huge portion of the population of the island does not have access to the same level of quick connectivity, with predictable travel times.
This is a huge difficulty. There is great latent potential in that region in terms of people, skills, business and the economy, as well as in regard to topography, the tourism income that can come from that and the culture. It is not just about latent potential because there is also a huge advantage to other parts of the island that sell products into our region. Very often, people are put off considering our region as a destination to sell into by virtue of the difficult travel times and the greater expenses associated with that. To reiterate, this entire region, with a population of over 500,000, does not have either a motorway or a high-level dual carriageway.
Councillor Donnelly talked about those portions of the A5 that are going to construction, namely, City of Derry to Strabane and Omagh to Ballygawley. There are other matters of fact which are unfortunate for us, particularly the lack of a rail link into the north-west region other than the existing link between Derry and Belfast, and the lack of an air link between Dublin and City of Derry Airport, as the previously existing one was terminated. It must be acknowledged that Derry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth largest city on the island of Ireland, an important point.
We want to focus on the positives and how we can build on them. However, while acknowledging the region has huge potential, there are matters of fact which are difficult for us. It is a region with high levels of deprivation. Derry or Londonderry has the highest level of unemployment in Northern Ireland at 8.8% and Strabane the third highest at 7.1%, which is above the average of 5.5%. In our own county of Donegal, the census of 2011 showed that youths aged under 25 have an unemployment rate of 49%, and I acknowledge that many of our youth have emigrated. It is a very significant issue for us as overall unemployment in the county is of the order of 20%.
There are other issues. For example, communities in the north west must travel greater distances to access key services such as acute hospitals, medical centres of excellence, colleges and training facilities. When we see the drive to move towards centres of excellence and towards putting facilities in places where efficiencies can be gained, the flip side of that coin is that we must then fill in the infrastructure that is necessary to connect people to and allow them to access those services. We have a dispersed rural community which depends completely on roads and, by its nature, is extremely difficult to serve with a public transport system, and we have a historic deficit in strategic roads, as I noted.
Several issues arise around this, including the collision rate on rural, two-lane roads, which is 9.8 per 100 million km of travel time, whereas the average for motorways is one quarter of that figure and, for high-level dual carriageways, one third of that figure. To take two areas in particular - the N14 from Strabane to Letterkenny and the N2 from the Border heading south towards Dublin - there are portions of both roads that have 3.5 to 5.5 times the average collision rate. While we talk of 9.8 as an average for two-lane roads, portions of the N14 have as much as 50 times the average rate and that portion of the N2 has close to three or 3.5 times the average. There are huge issues and costs associated with this in terms of managing the consequences of the collisions, which is not to ignore the importance of life and the fact that we need to improve the safety of our roads to the point where we do not lose lives on them.
With regard to opportunity costs, there has been a detailed appraisal of the A5 scheme which confirms its economic worth. It involves 260 permanent new jobs and €180 million in business efficiencies. There would be a huge boost to the construction sector, which is extremely important for us in the north west at present as it is an area that was traditionally very reliant on the construction industry and has a huge number of skills and competences available and ready to go. To take some examples, the Omagh to Ballygawley section of the A5 will provide direct employment for 750 people, so 750 families will gain an income for the construction period. It will generate between £53 million and £70 million in wages, provide jobs for 150 subcontractors, generating a further £100 million, and will generate £55 million in materials and £45 million in plant and equipment. An immediate factor to take into account is that it will reduce costs on the social assistance side in other parts of the State that would have to be carried in any event.
In terms of funding and implementation, we are aware a working group was asked to develop a revised funding and implementation plan earlier this year. Again, this is something we would like the committee to help with in terms of better understanding the outcomes to see how we can take it forward. Looking at it from our own perspective, it is a unique cross-Border, cross-party scheme, and our delegation is doing something which perhaps would not traditionally have happened in the past in that we are looking at this from end to end. We are looking at joining up the dots where various territories would normally end, which is a huge positive in bringing this forward.
We have put a figure of €2 billion on the present estimated cost of the whole route, although it is worth looking more closely at that figure. Some £280 million has been committed for the A5 on the Northern side and £50 million on the southern side. The €2 billion figure is perhaps an amalgamation of some of the more expensive options for subsections but if we take the more affordable options, the overall cost actually works out at €1.65 billion. Given that €350 million of that is already committed, we are looking at a funding gap of approximately €1.3 billion. We feel various options can be looked at to fund this. Some of the cost of funding will derive naturally from the economic spin-off of the construction but some will also derive from avoiding costs on the unemployment contribution side that will necessarily be required if this project does not happen. We are considering options such as Exchequer borrowing by both Governments.
The benefit to cost ratio of the A5 is 1.99:1, which is very strong, and I estimate it is very reflective of the benefit to cost ratio for the entire piece. Options such as delayed payments or PPP arrangements could be used for some sections. INTERREG V will come on board shortly and while we acknowledge the overall amount of money available from this will not construct the road, it should certainly be targeted to help close out the design of certain sections. It is important that funding for the project be included in the further development of recovery programmes.
We acknowledge the project could be phased in during an eight- to ten-year period. Looking at how this phasing might naturally develop, the construction of the City of Derry to Strabane and the Omagh to Ballygawley sections are under way or about to begin. Phase one could also include the preliminary road design on the section from Aughnacloy to Clontibret. The CPO for the N14 from Letterkenny to Strabane is ready to go and there is work to be done on the route selection and design for the section from Aughnacloy to the motorway.
Phase two could include the completion of statutory processes and the final design and construction of the Strabane bypass, the Strabane to Omagh section, the Omagh bypass and the Ballygawley to Aughnacloy sections. The design of the section from Letterkenny to Strabane is ready to go to CPO. The phase could also include final design for the section from Aughnacloy to Clontibret and statutory processes for the section from Clontibret to the motorway. Phases three and four could involve the construction of the section from Aughnacloy to Clontibret, and the final design and construction of the section from Clontibret to the motorway.
We call on the committee to advocate what we have put together as a collaborative proposal for the construction of this infrastructure, which would create a link to the north west and release the potential of the area to the southern Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the London Government, along with the North-South Ministerial Council and the British Irish Council.
We are delighted to have had this opportunity to come before the committee and we invite continued engagement on this matter. We very much want to bring to the table what resources we have in all councils in terms of development, design and advocacy. Coming before the committee today is a good opportunity to confirm this.
We call on the committee to use its influence to ensure the construction of the dual carriageway connections to the north west is government policy in both jurisdictions and is a key strategic priority for the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. We ask the committee to use its good offices to secure immediate funding for the necessary design, which is extremely important so we are ready to go with the remaining parts when the opportunity arises. This also includes statutory processes. We also call on the committee to ensure funding mechanisms are put in place for completion of the scheme in its entirety. An opportunity arises for conversation and debate on other innovative ways of phasing the project along the lines of what we have presented. We call on the committee to use its good offices to ensure the scheme is included in the developing recovery programme.
