Work could start on £110m Port Talbot relief road this year
WORK could start on Port Talbot's £110 million dual carriageway by the end of this year.
The second and biggest stage of the so-called peripheral distributor road will ease pressure on the increasingly congested M4 and open up huge swathes of industrial land for future development.
Now Neath Port Talbot Council is putting in a Convergence Fund bid of around £50 million, with the Assembly already indicating it will match fund any grant approved by Europe.
Council head of engineering and transport John Flower told the Post the bid would be submitted imminently, and the authority had already lined up Costain as the contractor.
"The scheme started off as fully-funded by the Assembly but we all appreciate where we are with government funding at the moment," said Mr Flower.
"That is why, at the Assembly's behest, we are embarking on a Convergence bid. They asked us to do that because we were successful in bidding for European Objective One money when we had £11 million towards the first stage.
"It will be the largest single bid to have gone from the Wales European Funding Office to Europe, and all the indications are that we will be successful — the signs are very good.
"The waiting time is three to six months and if we do get the money, work could start by the end of this year."
The first stage of the new road saw two-lane Afan Way redeveloped into a dual carriageway, and a new four-lane road built between Afan Way, near McDonald's, and the Heilbron Way roundabout.
The second and biggest stage will see the road continue to Junction 38 at Margam and will include four bridges, the largest stretching over the Swansea to Paddington mainline railway, as well as a new access road to Corus. It should be ready by late 2013.
Council leader Ali Thomas said: "This is the first time since 2002 the Assembly Government has not allocated funds to stage two of the peripheral distributor road. This year it has made any future allocation dependent on a successful bid for Convergence funds. This why we are doing all we can to secure additional funding so the Assembly Government can match fund any successful bid to Europe."
3 Comments
by ANON9, PT
Thursday, March 11 2010, 6:57PM
“How much would the NPT council save if they investigated and sacked all the staff who are scamming expenses, taking materials or sitting in their vehicles when they are being paid to work? £11m?”
by jeffery, dirtytown
Wednesday, March 10 2010, 11:22PM
“What other roads will they block off to force the public to use the new PDR if and when it is ever built. How many landscaped roundabouts and embankments will this lot have , how many other half million pound bridges will be built that wont be used. How many obstacles will they add to this new road to reduce traffic flow. Why can tye always get money for whims but the roads in the town are falling apart”
by ANON1973, PORT TALBOT
Tuesday, March 09 2010, 10:36AM
“How can NPTCBC justify spending £11million more on this road then is needed given the current position with jobs. The £11 million more is as a result of not choosing the cheapest contractor who worked on the first two stages and won awards for them. This £11 million is about 440 full time jobs costing £25k per year.”