Great Mall of China!

Welcome, Bienvenue, Wilkommen and now 'huan ying' to Athlone could soon be gracing signs around Athlone as the first phase of the major international trade hub for the Creggan area was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála yesterday (Tuesday). Some 1,200 construction jobs are promised in phase one, along with 1,520 permanent posts - of which two thirds would be for Irish and EU nationals. There has been a broad welcome for the grant of planning permission for the €175m first phase of the hub, from politicians, business people, the general public and of course the promoters of the project. The company behind the project is Athlone Business Park Ltd, the directors of which are Aidan Kelly and Michael O'Sullivan. CEO of Athlone Business Park John Tiernan told the Westmeath Independent yesterday: "We're delighted we've got past the statutory planning stage and it lets us move to the next steps to secure this project for Athlone." He confirmed that the project has yet to attract investors, but explained that without planning permission it could not line up investors. He said based on market research it has conducted and meetings the company has held it is confident that there will be interest from investors. Mr Tiernan said the company expected to have the investors in place and the necessary steps carried out to bring the project to the construction phase within the next 15 months and the construction of phase one would then take about two years. This would mean phase one of the international trade hub could be open for business by 2015, a date Mr Tiernan described as 'optimistic'. Asked about the concerns raised by one of the main objectors to the project - An Taisce - that transport to and from Dublin could pose a problem, Mr Tiernan said the National Roads Authority, Westmeath County Council, An Bord Pleanála and the company's own engineers had come to the conclusion that the transport of passengers from Dublin to Athlone was feasible. Mr Tiernan said An Taisce's concerns had been assessed by professionals and were deemed not to be relevant. In terms of employment, Mr Tiernan pointed out that at one stage during the planning process there were about 70 consultants working on the project and he expected that in the next phase there would be similar numbers before the project reaches the construction phase, which will see about 1,200 employed. Once phase one is up and running the project will create in excess of 1,500 jobs and Mr Tiernan explained yesterday that these will be across a broad range of skillsets, from finance to travel agents, legal consultants, translators, to maintenance and drivers. While there was a broad welcome for the project, a number of those who submitted objections to the development declined to comment on the news of planning approval when contacted by the Westmeath Independent this week. Two said they would not give any public reaction until they examined the Bord Pleanála report. An Taisce said in a statement following the planning approval yesterday: "An Taisce believes that the vague nature of the planning conditions attached to development and the lack of global consideration of sustainability by An Bord Pleanála is a serious concern." The €175m first phase of the project includes two 'mega' exhibition halls, with each two-storey hall containing space for 270 display areas. Each of these halls spans over 30,000 square metres. Each hall is therefore almost twice the size of the existing Golden Island Shopping Centre. There will be another major multi-purpose hall (known as the China hall) for visiting exhibitions with space for 135 separate display areas. Another nine smaller one-storey exhibitions halls are also proposed for phase one, totalling 22,000 square metres. These halls are designed for larger, bulkier exhibits such as electric cars and machinery which would not be suitable for the smaller display areas in the mega exhibition halls. Underground parking to cater for up to 1,370 car parking spaces, as well as a bus terminus and bus bays and a four-storey reception building are also included in the first phase. The hub is designed to allow Chinese businesses to showcase their goods in order to sell on to the European Union and United States markets. There will also be accommodation for Irish goods to be displayed at the trade hub.