News of the building of motorway service areas is being hailed as a fillip for the Irish construction sector, which has been hit hard by the recession.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday signed a deal with the Superstom consortium to build three motorway service areas over the next year.

The agreement will create 500 jobs when the construction of the facilities gets underway next month.

Another 250 jobs will also be established when the stations open at the end of 2010.

The estimated cost of the land needed for the projects is €20m, while the total bill for the development will be around €120m, of which the NRA will pay €47m and the backers, the Bank of Ireland will provide €70m to Superstop.

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The Superstop concession is for 25 years, after which the service areas will revert to the roads authority.

This announcement comes as great news to the weak construction sector, which has lost thousands of jobs in last months.

Two motorway service areas will be built along the M1 motorway linking Dublin and Belfast, on in each direction on the M1 at Castlebellingham in Co Louth and Lusk in north Dublin.

The third will be on the M4, linking Dublin to Enfield on the Kildare-Meath border, again with one on each side, north and south, on opposite sides of the route.

Altogether six facilities will be built, due to the provision of service areas on both sides of the motorways in the three locations concerned.

These stations are being built to allow motorists and especially commercial drivers to be able to stop and rest.

They will operate 24 hours a day and they will have petrol forecourts, restaurants, shops, HGV parking and shower facilities.

Although all that represents good news, according to Department of Finance, plans to have a dozen more service areas on the five inter-urban motorways by 2011 will be delayed because of the economic situation.

(CL/BMcC)