Docks redevelopment would be worth €130m to economy

The business case and cost-benefit analysis was carried out by economic consultants DKM as part of the planning application in respect of the development.

The application and economic assessment will be submitted to An Bórd Pleanála by the end of this month, the Sentinel has learned.

The 86-page report, commissioned by Galway Harbour Company, establishes that the net socio-economic impact of phase one of the redevelopment project would be worth a minimum of €130 million to Galway.

That €130 million benefit is, in fact, a conservative estimate, according to the report, which notes the benefit of the project could reach €316 million under a ‘best case’ scenario.

The capital cost of the redevelopment is put at €51 million and it will be paid for through state funding, borrowings and the sale of land at the harbour.

The report indicates that as many as 190 full-time jobs would also be created during the three-year construction phase, which could commence as early as 2015. Those jobs would be sustained over the three year building phase. “This will be particularly welcome in the construction and related sectors which have been decimated by the current recession,” it says.

An additional 55 full-time, long-term jobs would also be created in the tourism and marina industry as a result of the project.

Galway West TD Brian Walsh, who was a member of the original Strategic Development Committee that first advanced proposals for the redevelopment, said that government support was now vital to the prospects of the project.

“This project has the potential to reshape the dynamic of the city, both physically and economically, and would be the most significant development in Galway of this generation,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.