Roads consortium 'should pay' to clear up 2008 floods

A joint venture between John Graham (Dromore), Farrans, and Bilfinger Berger should be billed for the cost of clearing up the 2008 flooding of a major road in Northern Ireland, the Audit Office has said.

At one point the new road, part of the Westlink built by Highways Management Construction, was under 6m of water and motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles, according to the BBC.

The incident on the road, which connects the M1, M2 and M3 motorways within Belfast, occurred after a month's rain fell in just 12 hours.

Highway Management Construction said a design fault was not to blame for the flooding and that it was simply as a result of exceptional rainfall.

But Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said: "It is important that any indemnified costs incurred by the Department and Roads Service, for example public liability costs and damages, in dealing with or as a result of the flooding incident on the Westlink are identified and recouped from the consortium.

"Similar costs incurred by the other public sector organisations, for example costs to emergency services, should be identified by those organisations and the potential to recoup those costs should also be investigated."

Among the costs identified were an independent report providing recommendations for safety which cost the department £58,000.

A model examining the drainage system came to £70,000 and is to be shared equally by the Roads Service, Rivers Agency and the consortium.