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July 21, 2001
By Mary Dundon
A NATIONAL Roads Authority board member has resigned to avoid accusations of conflict of interest during his firm’s bid for the design of a £1bn project.
Arup’s Construction director Peter Langford said yesterday he had resigned as an NRA board member because he wanted to be free to act as project director in his firm’s bid for the design of Dublin’s East Link project.
“I took a commercial decision because it did not make sense to have me disabled from working for the firm that pays my salary,” Mr Langford said.
He was responding to claims by Campaign for Sensible Transport spokesman, Gary Fitzgerald, that his position as NRA board member amounted to a conflict of interest for seven-and-a-half years.
“If people benefit directly from building roads, they should not be involved in a body that has responsibility for planning, supervising and construction of roads,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
But Mr Langford rejected any suggestion there was a conflict of interest during his tenure as a NRA board member.
During that period he was Arup’s managing director and chairman and was precluded from any direct involvement in project management.
“I stepped down as MD and chairman because I wanted to be free to get back into project management, and since this would involved bidding for State projects, I decided to resign from the NRA board,” Mr Langford said.
Responding to claims that Arup’s had secured design briefs for sections of the main national roadways during his tenure as a NRA board member, Mr Langford said it was the individual local authorities which awarded these contracts — not the NRA.
“These motorways are funded by the NRA, but the design contracts are awarded by the different local authorities,” he added.
Mr Langford said when he was asked to take the NRA board position, he pointed out to the Minister at the time that there may be conflict of interest allegations.
But the Minister said provided he followed the regulations and absented himself from any board meeting considering a project involving his company, these accusations would not stand up. Mr Langford said he had complied with these regulations throughout his tenure and added his company had not secured the contract for the design of the £1bn East Link project.
An NRA spokesman pointed out that people with expertise in road building and design are needed on the board to provide professional expertise and Mr Langford had made an excellent contribution during his tenure.
© Irish Examiner, 2001, Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH
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