The Western Development Commission has warned that further delays in road construction in the region "cannot be tolerated".
The commission was reacting to the recent report to Government on investment in the roads network under the National Development Plan (NDP).
The report shows that expenditure on roads in the Border, Midlands and West (BMW) region was only 75 per cent of that forecast at the end of 2001 - although overall roads expenditure was 22 per cent ahead of budget.
The Western Development Commission (WDC) chief executive, Ms Lisa McAllister, has described the situation as "extremely worrying". Only a quarter of the 53 BMW projects on national primary roads were under construction or had been completed by the end of 2001, she noted. Expenditure had been concentrated on Dublin and the major inter-urban routes, and the southern and eastern region was 45 per cent ahead of budget.
"One of the core objectives of the NDP is balanced regional development," Ms McAllister said. "It is not acceptable that investment in roads in the BMW is below target. We consider the current NDP commitments for roads in the west as minimal."
She said: "If Dublin and the major inter-urban routes are to be allowed to continue to take up most of the NDP expenditure, then the outlook for the west will be very bleak."
She said that the report pointed out that only Dublin and the major inter-urban route projects had clear, time-bound, physical targets. This was not the case for other national primary and secondary routes and the WDC shared the view expressed in the report that these routes could get squeezed out as a consequence.
"It must be remembered that the N6 between Galway and Dublin is the only designated major inter-urban route in the west, and other key access routes to the west, like the N5 to Mayo, the N4 to Sligo, the roads to Donegal and the north-south corridors through the region, are in need of major upgrading," she said. "The WDC has called for precise targets in relation to roads for these very reasons."
The WDC was also "very concerned" about the report's revelation that the National Roads Authority had decided to carry out fewer improvements on national secondary roads.