The Government wants to avoid the cost of the long-delayed MetroLink project rising sharply in the same way the bill for the national children’s hospital has, a Department of Transport official has said. Andrew Ebrill, principal officer at the department’s metro and light rail investment division, said lessons had been learned from the hospital’s cost overruns.“We want to avoid that type of scenario,” he told the Oireachtas transport committee on Tuesday.Ebrill would not be drawn on a figure when asked how much the MetroLink project – connecting Dublin Airport to the city centre – would cost. He did confirm it will be “well north” of the €9.5 billion estimate given by the Government in 2021.Asked by Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly if the final cost could be double or triple the initial estimate, Ebrill replied: “I’m not going to give a figure, Deputy, but I can say that it will be well north of €9 billion.”Expanding on why the figure would increase to such an extent, Ebrill said: “There has been the order of 30 per cent construction inflation from around 2021 to 2025 and that’s before any design implications, and so on.”When the MetroLink was first proposed in 2001, the estimated cost was €2.5 billion. The Department of Public Expenditure last year said the project could end up costing more than €23 billion. [ ‘Pennywise and billions foolish’: Infrastructure chief criticises historic State approach to big projectsOpens in new window ]The MetroLink plan includes 16 stations running from Swords to Charlemont. Much of the 18.8km route will run underground and, when complete, passengers will be able travel from Dublin Airport to the city centre in about 25 minutes.The original estimated cost of the children’s hospital was put at €800 million in 2014. When construction finally began in 2016 the cost was estimated to be almost €1 billion, but has since risen to more than €2.2 billion. The hospital has been beset with delays and is not expected to open until next year at the earliest, leading to an increasingly fractious relationship between the Department of Health and developer Bam.A new agency is to be set up to oversee the MetroLink project and its budget once the Oireachtas passes the relevant legislation.“One of the reasons for setting up this agency is to provide for the expertise and focus to help avoid those type of situations [like the children’s hospital], and to have accountability in relation to scope and cost, so that there’s clarity of who’s responsible,” Ebrill said.He told the committee that efforts will be made by officials to “minimise the potential for cost escalation” after contracts have been signed. He said “pain/gain mechanisms” – financial rules in construction contracts that aim to save money – will be put in place “to help protect the taxpayer and the Exchequer”.He added: “So that is very much in our thinking – to learn from experience here and elsewhere to avoid such a scenario.”Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has requested that pre-legislative scrutiny of the MetroLink Bill be waived in order to speed up the process. “Minister O’Brien is seeking swift progression of this Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas with a view to seeing it enacted by spring of next year,” Ebrill said.“This timetable would allow the agency to be established and to take over responsibility for the governance of MetroLink, ahead of awarding of the main contracts and commencement of heavy construction works. The tight schedule is why the Minister has requested a waiver of the pre-legislative scrutiny process.”The transport committee is considering the request and is expected to make a decision next week.