A6 Road to Derry likely to exceed £220m budget

The new A6 road linking Derry and Belfast is likely to exceed its original £220m budget by a predicted £30m, a Department for Infrastructure (DfI) official has said.

There has been widespread frustration over delays to the long-awaited A6 road, which was due to open last autumn.

The 15-mile stretch is part of the A6 upgrade linking Derry and Belfast.

The new stretch of road mostly runs parallel to the existing road and includes a bypass at Dungiven.

The road initially opened with speed limits and lane restrictions for a short period in summer 2022, but closed again as work continued.

Work on the road started in 2018, with an estimated cost of £220m, and had been due to be completed early 2022, but has faced continuous delays.

The DfI's Kaine Lynch told the BBC that he now estimates the project to run £30m over its initial budget.

This news comes after the DfI predicted the road "could be opened by the end of April."

A spokesperson for the DfI said of the delays: “The Department completely understands the frustration of all those impacted by the ongoing works on the A6 including the travelling public, local businesses and people living in the area.

"Subject to any unforeseen circumstances, the current programme indicates the road could open at the end of April.”

Mr Lynch then later confirmed to the BBC that on top of the delays, the project would run over budget.

Mr Lynch said: "When we originally started the project we estimated it would cost around £220m, we know that it is likely to be in the region of £250m today. 

"But there are a number of outstanding disputes and unagreed items with the contractor which would need to be resolved before we could get a final figure.

"In a construction project of this nature there are inevitably things that will arise that the contractor would not have reasonably foreseen or accounted for in the price.

"There are a large number of minor issues that are yet to be resolved, but that is normal on a project of this scale so my best estimate is now around £30m extra."

Mr Lynch echoed that he understood the concerns of "local people and the travelling public" about delays to the project.

"They have waited a long time for the upgrade and understandably want to know when it will open," he said.

He said "the end of April" was the target the DfI was now working towards to open the road to the public.