A determined push is being made by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to complete the transport links between the Western Isles with improved ferry services across the Sound of Barra.
Following the ceremony on Thursday
last week (July 12) marking the
replacement of the Eriskay ferry service by the new causeway, the chairman
of the CnES Transportation Committee, Norman A. Macdonald, said a series of
important moves would takes place over the next few weeks.
It is hoped that the final tranche of funding for the new £930,000 Barra ferry terminal and link road at Ardmhor will be announced by the Highlands and Islands Special Programme towards the end of this month. Support has already come from the Scottish Executive and Western Isles Enterprise.
In August a bid for around £2.5
million will be submitted to the Scottish public transport fund for a project
to develop overnight berthing, waiting rooms at the ferry terminals and buoys
to mark the route for the ferry service between Eriskay and Barra. In addition,
the project will upgrade roads to the Eriskay and Barra ferry terminals so
they can take articulated lorries. With the aim being to complete the new
Barra ferry terminal by December, it is then intended that the new ferry service
will start in early 2002, using vessels already owned by the Comhairle. Councillor
Macdonald said that funding for a new ferry on the route was a matter for
the ferry operator and the Scottish Executive. It has been previously proposed
that a larger vessel is built for the Sound of Harris route while the present
ferry there, the Loch Bhrusda, is transferred to the Barra route.
Commenting on the completion of the Eriskay Causeway, which will be officially opened later in the year, Councillor Macdonald said that the Comhairle had been criticised for not starting the work earlier. However, the support of the Objective One programme and the Scottish Executive for the Eriskay scheme was made much easier because the Council had been able to show the success of earlier projects the Sound of Harris ferry, the Scalpay Bridge and the Berneray Causeway.
The 1.6 kilometre causeway from South Uist to Eriskay is part of the £9.4m Eriskay and Sound of Barra integrated transport project which has been under way since May last year.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar put £2 million into the project with £4.1 million coming from the Scottish Executive¹s transportation challenge fund and the rest from European Objective 1 (£2.8 million) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (£0.5 million).
Issued: July 16, 2001
This release has been prepared
by Intermedia Services (01851 705743) on behalf of the Eriskay Causeway Information
Service of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
For further information please
contact Nigel Scott on 01851 703773
