BIG READ: Developer blasts Irish Water for delay on major Tipperary project

Developer Pramukh Gogineni has blasted Irish Water for an eleven-month delay in trying to get an offer letter/connection agreement for his development on the Dundrum Road in Tipperary Town.

The development comprising 94 semi-detached starter family houses, an 88-bed nursing home and a 28 unit older persons complex consisting of one-storey dormer bungalows, is a major project for Tipperary Town.

There have been a number of issues which have delayed the commencement of the project but these were resolved during the year and initial ground work commenced during the summer. However, work is currently at a standstill due to a delay in getting a connection agreement with Irish Water to provide water and sewerage facilities.

Speaking exclusively to The Nationalist, Pramukh outlined the difficulties that he is experiencing.

“We got going in February and the first thing we did at the start was make an application to Irish Water, so that we could connect our water and sewer. As you know this is the most important aspect of any development, so we were making this application a good five or six months in advance of any work commencing. We knew it would take a lengthy period but we were really unprepared for the current situation where it has already taken eleven months now and no end in sight.

“This is holding up the entire development and I have been calling them, sending them emails and getting councillors to make representations, but it seems that my application is going through so many different hoops and circles. It has gone to their legal team, their design team, their communication team and a number of other teams and meanwhile I continue to wait for connection. Why has it to go through all these teams before I get a connection?

“The costs that are involved in creating the infrastructure both inside and outside my development need to be outlined so that my financial projections can be submitted to the lenders. They want to know that water can be provided to these houses and can be provided at a certain price. They need to know all of that in writing which would be the basis of my offer letter/connection agreement from Irish Water. That is a binding agreement between me and Irish Water where they will tell me what to pay and lay out all the conditions. I am desperately waiting for that letter,” said Pramukh.

The Cork-based developer commenced build on six of the houses during the autumn, which he has earmarked as showhouses.

They have completed all the foundations and the blockwork is at the half way stage. He anticipated that they would be at the roof stage in January. However this uncertainty caused by Irish Water is what he terms “a showstopper”.

“If you compare it with electricity which I applied for at the same time as water, I had an offer letter from ESB within a month. The lady I was dealing with in ESB knew the urgency of the situation and assisted me in every possible way to get the connection agreement as quickly as possible. I am not the only one building houses in the country and I can not understand why it should take eleven months and counting to get a connection agreement from Irish Water.

“I have seen at least 50 people to date deal with my application and I just do not know what to do. There is no other hold up and unless I have a connection agreement there is no lender that will provide the necessary finance for the continuance of the build. They need to know the costs and the timeline and without that I can not proceed further so the project is effectively at a standstill.

“I was hoping to launch my showhouses in early spring but with this delay with Irish Water I have lost a good six months on the work schedule. The water and sewer connections are only about 100 metres from my site and no amount of designing or drawing by Irish Water can justify an 11 month delay. People are crying out for houses either to rent or to buy, and yet as a developer I have so many hoops to jump through and so many challenges to face in getting the project off the ground.

“I can say without question that a lot more needs to be done to prevent roadblocks to developments such as mine. The service level agreement with Irish Water says that any application should be turned around in four months and yet here I am at eleven months with no agreement and no response from their CEO. They tell you in their communications that their SLA provides for a four month turnaround but here they are operating outside their own terms in their agreement. I was hoping to get into full development in the summer, but now summer is gone, autumn is gone and I am now staring into the spring of 2023.

“I had a few key issues with the county council but these have all been resolved and they are working very proactively with me in trying to get the full development underway. The only bottleneck I now have to deal with is Irish Water. The country needs houses and why should I be waiting eleven months before I can get my team working on the development and more importantly why should the people who need the houses have to wait also,” concluded Pramukh.